Smiling breakfast

Huh. That was four days off? The previous work week was exhausting so a lot of the weekend was downtime. I watched tons of World Cup soccer. (great game U.S. despite the loss, Swiss game was exciting as well.) In the evening we’ve been continuing through the very strange Lost series. We are now into season three. We are often left wondering WTF is going on… Is Lost suppose to make sense? Often times it does not. The “Tricia Tanaka Is Dead” episode was hilarious. Hurley is such a great character. I think regardless how stupid Lost gets (there are 3 more seasons still…!) I’d keep watching because the characters are so well developed largely due to the backstory flashbacks that the series uses. So yes there was a fair bit of time spent on the couch this weekend.

Maybe we were hiding from the oppressive heat outside. So hot. We wanted to bike, hike but gah… 30m of any activity and I’m soaked. Still, that didn’t deter hours of yardwork by both of us. Bdot worked on the ‘road garden’. She cleaned it up considerably. I guess a photo here would be nice. I’ll try and add one tonight. My yardwork was less glamorous. I pulled weeds, weeds and more weeds. Two green bags full of them. The immediate upside was it allowed us to drop some mulch around the birch tree. It looks much better. We are having company over this weekend, so limiting the number of eye soars in the backyard is nice. Bdot also painted the front door. It transformed from the drab dark maroonish colour it was to the striking onyx Black it is now. The garage door is next… at some point.

Updated Garden. Maybe not the best angle.

The glorious steam sale ended and Larian also released the final version of their successfully kickstarted game Divinity: Original Sin. So I’ve been juggling between Gothic 3 and DOS. I’m happy to have two solid RPGs to bounce between. First off, getting tired of googling the title ‘Divinity Original Sin’, what a mouthfull. *eyeroll* Initial impressions on DOS are favourable. The game looks great. The UI is decent, especially considering the complexity of the environment and character stats. The brilliant turn based combat is really intriguing, especially with the addition of ‘the elements’. The questing system is a little disappointing. Yes – I guess I’m so accustomed to the hand holding in most RPGs, so when it isn’t there, quests seem somewhat bewildering. I find I’m spending far to much time aimlessly wandering around trying to advance quest plots. Especially the Murder quest… The hidden room containing evidence is found by moving a ham? A ham?! While I think it is funny now, really funny, there is no way I would ever have figured that out without youtubing for a walkthrough. I’m also finding the combat really difficult. I’m getting wiped by the numerous undead that surround the city. I feel I just don’t do enough damage. So… I’m trying to find a way to get some coin and upgrade my spells, weapons and armour… then back at it. The combat is so interesting that even when I lose it is fun trying new strategic ideas. Well done here for sure Larian! I can see already that the skills you choose are very important. It looks to me that survival in the game will require a well balanced group that can tap into the benefits of a variety of skills. I’m curious to see how this unfolds. I’m certainly very pleased to have backed the game, I guess my name is in the Kickstarter list somewhere. More on this game later as I’m sure I’ll be playing it a lot over the next while.

Wow. What a weekend for the Sabres! Tim Murray was busy! Incredible job by TM the GM. The Sabres signed Gorges and Gionta from Montreal, Meszaros from the Sens and Moulson signed for five years. No I’m not planning the parade route, but the team should be entertaining, even if they continue to suck. I’m hoping that some of the “rookie talent” makes the team. That in itself would be fun to watch. Sad to hear about RJ’s cancer. I hope he makes a full recovery. He is certainly attached to so many memories and has made a major impact on my love of the Sabres and hockey.

Happy Canada day.

P.S. I love you tea. Sometimes you are the perfect thing.

WOO! Canadian Tennis history!