Full time teaching is a total change of altitude, pace, everything else.
Teaching is NOT a 9 – 5 gig, not even close. And its no where near 40 hours a week. In the modern age of instant communication and always connected there are times where it feels like its 24-7. I’ve been working hard to keep up, getting ahead is a neat concept, but not something I expect to happen – EVER!
I’m starting to look at ways to improve my courses. The only problem is getting the time to make it happen. Its coming……
Also looking at my return to Cert Study. I’m going to need to develop ways to stay current. Releases of operating systems and the new hotness in networking technology. With that, I’m looking at 70-640 as my return cert. Shouldn’t be too hard to get up to speed on, it’s Active Directory. Which now focuses on users, groups, computers, and a few other subjects I’m pretty familiar with. I passed the 2003 AD test with variable ease.
Also, I’ve decided to split my blog. I originally started this blog as a tech/cert blog. The focused has changed as Cert/tech stuff has fallen off, but my non-eventful, unexciting life has taken up much of the posts. Considering how long it took for me to post this update….. We’ll see when that happens.
Besides getting “acquainted” with full time teaching, what have I been up too?
Tabletop Gaming of course! Malifaux is pretty much it. It’s started to gain some momentum locally. Of course I have everything for the game painted on commission. Just easier than lying to myself trying to convince myself I’m going paint. I’ve enjoyed the game, using a deck of cards vs. dice has been interesting. Luck is still luck and I don’t have a lot when it comes to games.
Painting, hasn’t happened much at all. Motivation and momentum don’t generally last very long. I’ve got 5 figures left to paint to be fully painted with Anima Tactics! Not that hard. All 5 are started, but forward progress has been…. Blah!
Commentary on Anima Tactics – I wouldn’t say the game is dead. My heart still beats for the game, but I don’t the companies involved in the game have done enough to ensure its survival in a touch, very touch gaming market. The rulebook has been a bone of contention for some time. Some people can’t/won’t see a game as “legitimate” without a rule book. I’ve enjoyed the game everything I’ve played regardless of have an actual rulebook. It’s coming, and I’ll buy it when it shows up, but I think the damage is done.
If you asked my opinion, good thing this is my blog and I can give my opinion without being asked 
….
The lack of a formal release schedule makes the game seems low budget. Information about releases comes from people on the forums and usually its someone in Europe. Figures just appear in the Cipher Studios webstore or someone on the forums saying, “I picked X figure locally today”.
A lot of people are loyal to the store they play in and prefer to buy from that store. Hard to tell the store owner to order something if you don’t when it’ll be available.
I love the game play, the figs, the concept, and hate watching a good game go down into obscurity, or should I say watching the game linger in obscurity.
Commentary on Privateer Press (Hordes and WarMachine) – Still very popular with a very active community. BUT as long as they are in transition It’d be hard to get back to it. Not only that. But, there are cheaper games. I can have a full army painted for other games at the cost of a single unit (10 figs) or a single figure for that matter. And my new non-painting status makes that a major hurdle. I can deal with playing with unpainted figs. Maybe after the rules and figure update I’ll get back to it. But the longer I spend playing other games, the harder it is to show PP some love.
AE-WWII – just not playing.
I put some time into updating my 25th Anniversary Joe case. It’s almost done, then I’ll get some pictures posted. I’m happy with the changes. I added 10+ figs to the case, both Cobra and Joes, which sparked the case remix.
I have no idea what I’m going to do with my “vintage case” It needs some attention.
What else is there?
Oh for homeowners, an energy audit for the Energy Trust of Oregon. It’s Free if you use PGE for heat or natural gas. They also provided me with list of contracts to make the improvements they recommended. In this case, insulation. Insulation in the attic and the crawl space. Noticed a difference almost automatically. But that also led to a two-zone split pump heating/cooling system. I LOVE IT!
Climate control in the house. Talk about good tymes!
The contractor that did the work: Home Energy Life Performance Group – (503) 244-8232
P90X – great system, but I didn’t have what it took to stay with it. I can do the workouts no problem. Ok some problem, but not a lot. I just couldn’t nail down the eating. And without that peace the rest is worthless. You won’t see the results you want. Another issue could have been I didn’t have goals in mind. Or even a single goal. I was just doing it. And that made motivation hard to come by.
I know I’ll revisit it, just have to figure out a better plan of attack.
Wow, I guess that’s what happens when you go almost a month without an update.
In the end I took the coin and probably 3rd place overall. We didn’t go 4 rounds as planned, not surprising at all. There were 15 players, a decent mix of factions.