Alex "Gus" Gustafson

  • Roy Dotrice on Game of Thrones

    On our way to and from Fort Smith, Arkansas, Amber and I listened to A Game of Thrones on audiobook. It’s such a cultural touchpoint now, but we’re both very behind on the books, the tv series, everything. I have only seen three episodes of the series, and Ber has seen the first season of the series. Neither of us have read the books.

    Even with twenty-two hours of driving, we still only ended up listening to half the book. It wasn’t from lack of trying, it’s just a very long audiobook! But it was a totally awesome experience. Roy Dotrice is an incredible talent of voice acting and the characters really came to life. To an extent, I’m glad I started with the audiobook instead of reading. Though now it’s been several days and we’ve not continued listening so we might need to read to finish it.

    Looking up more about Roy Dotrice, I found this interview and especially enjoyed it.

    He seems so sweet and caring. His love of George R.R. Martin’s work really came through in his performance and it sounds like it comes from a genuine place.

    —

  • Guaranteed Results

    I joined a gym. It’s not a normal gym. It’s more of a personal & group training space where everyone gets to do Rocky’s training montage from Rocky IV. In a recent interview with the lead trainer, he said “the world doesn’t have ergonomic grips and evenly balanced weights. So why train that way?” Workouts include lots of repurposed materials, body weight and getting dirty, but it’s still built on resistance training and functional movement.

    My first workout included (but was not limited to) dragging a weighted tire, swinging a sledge hammer around, and maneuvering a rope swing like Tarzan. It was intense. I’m too out of shape to keep up with the group 100%, but the trainer helped me take it at a pace/level I could participate at without passing out. The first goal for my personal sessions will be getting me fit enough that I can actually do all the sets found in the typical ‘pack’ workouts done in groups.

    When I signed up, they offered “guaranteed results in 3 months” with one disclaimer:

    Just show up and do what we say.

    Deal.

    —

  • Bias

    Me: You’re the most awesome.

    Amber: But I don’t bake things.

    Me: But… you’re still the most awesome. So what does that say?

    Amber: That you’re biased?

    Even when we’re close to being a ‘cutesy’ couple it still boils down to science.

    —

  • Fat Habits

    While on vacation I acted fat again. I didn’t run, in fact I barely moved at all. Every meal I ate more than I’d ever need because it feels good to be full. I was totally full every night when I went to bed.

    I drank more wine and cocktails last week than I have in the last month. We had a bunch of sweet snacks on the counter I took to calling ‘the carb buffet’ and I sampled it often. I drank all the Dr. Pepper I desired.

    It was super amazing for a vacation. But now I’m trying to get back into my normal flow of things and I feel off. Mind is blurry and body is slow. Stepped on the scale and its no shocker that I gained weight.

    Need to forget these fat habits while they’re still new.

    —

  • Timeline: Americana

    For my birthday, my sister gave me Timeline: Americana. The games in the Timeline family are all trivia games where you need to know (or estimate) the year in which significant events took place. You can learn the game in less than a minute, play it in less than 15, and smack yourself in the head several times for not remembering that Marty Mcfly invented the skateboard in 1955 so of course the first one sold was in 1956 get it together, Alex.

    Don't let the picture of me fool you - my mom beat me.
    Don’t let the picture of me fool you – my mom beat me.

    The components are well-done for this little game. The box and insert protect the deck well and the cards are of good quality. It should stand up to the rigors of many plays, even with kids – unless they don’t yet realize that bent cards are less fun than straight cards.

    Though it only has one game mechanic, it is a solid one for the trivia genre. When I was still hosting Gus Bus Trivia my final round questions were usually a “put these four things in order” and this game feels like an extended version of that.

    Overall it’s fun and quick. Even when your mom beats you.

    —

  • Twenty-eight

    Happy birthday. Twenty-seven was an exciting year:

    • Got married in October
    • Became a full-time Automattician just 10 days later
    • Bought a car in February
    • Became an expectant father in March

    Some may see that many big changes happening all at once and call it irresponsible or stressful. But truthfully I feel more secure, happy, and focused than ever before. Each decision was made with great care and intention. And it seems like twenty-seven was just a great big wind-up for twenty-eight.

    The new family member will of course be the most important event of my next year. It’s an odd feeling knowing that very soon I’ll willingly move my priorities away from my wife and I and onto this new little human. And even now my decisions have obviously begun to shift.

    Over the last year I’ve found almost all my successes to be the result of studying my daily habits and the weaknesses that might cause me to break them. Babies aren’t fond of keeping to my timetable, so we’re certainly going to test my ability to stay loose and adjust. Perhaps more important is that I’ll need to firmly stick to a few principles that already guide most of my decisions.

    Family Is Top Priority

    My child and my marriage are the most important things in my life. The tasks a family asks of you feel large because you understand the weight of their importance. But each task in itself can be accomplished with the will to do it. My parents worked hard and had three kids at this age. Something tells me that I can do my part for my little family with the same effort.

    Work Is a Good Thing

    Unlike some work I’ve done in the past, there’s really no downside to the work I do now. It keeps me learning and growing. It lets me help thousands of people pursue a passion that I myself enjoy. It lets me produce at the time and place I find best suits my family’s needs. And of course, it pays the bills. Some poor souls spend their working hours helping to accomplish a goal they care nothing about – I do not have that trouble. The hours I will spend working this year are honorable and worthwhile.

    Health Makes Everything Better

    I’ve been a runner for almost three months now. I’m not very good at it yet, but I can already see how it makes me feel better. After a run I can breathe clearer, sleep deeper, and handle a longer day. Making better food choices only multiplies this feeling – but that’s a skill I need to improve upon. My point is, a choice for a health is a choice for a better life. My family and work can both make better use of me when I’m at my healthiest.

    Happiness Comes Simply

    Creative pursuits like blogging, drawing, and writing the stories for my D&D group are incredibly fulfilling and bring me great joy. Going out for meals and drinks, or purchasing new things and tickets for events are less fulfilling and cost much more. More and more I’ve learned to save the money I earn and spend my time on these fulfilling things instead of spending the cash.

    These principles are simple, but not easy. We’ll see how well they stand up to the test of a year.

    —

  • To Switch or Not To Switch? Part 4: Play the Game, Not the System

    This is Part 4 in a series called “To Switch or Not To Switch” about whether or not my gaming group should switch to Dungeons and Dragons, 5th Edition, or stay with Pathfinder.

    Your dungeon master describes the scene. You imagine the environment and characters around you and decide how your character would react or choose to proceed. You say what your character does and your DM asks you to make any checks required. You roll the dice. The DM narrates what happens.

    This is d20 roleplay at its heart. The goal of different systems and rules sets isn’t to change that format at all. It’s a matter of taste in how the rules interpret different choices.

    Pathfinder accomplishes this by providing copious mechanics and checks that save the DM from having to figure out a way of determining the result of any choice. Just obey the rules already in place, connect the dots, and narrate the result. Player doesn’t like it? It’s just following the rules, too bad.

    Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition (5e) accomplishes this by streamlining the rules so much that DMs can use fewer different types of checks. They use their gut to figure out what seems reasonable, and then have freedom to move the story along. Your group needs to trust the DM a lot more, but they’re in a better position to keep narrative and tension at the fore even if the player makes a complicated or unexpected choice.

    The 5e character sheet. Just a tiny bit more streamlined than the Pathfinder one (below.)
    The 5e character sheet. Just a tiny bit more streamlined than the Pathfinder one (below.)

    With our gaming group, I sometimes think the rules get in the way of the game. A player can really enjoy making the most of a rule to decide how to behave – but as a new DM it can mean we stall out in the middle of a tense battle or a unique puzzle may lose its interest. None of us knows the rules so well that we can think story and let the rules flow.

    5e promises to fix that problem. On the web it seems like that’s the reason most people switch to it. But will the switch itself throw off our group? “That’s not how it worked in Pathfinder…” stalls the story just as much as any standard rules question. This almost feels like a economics question – which is more disrupting: the opportunity cost or the switching cost?

    Portion of the Pathfinder character sheet. More complicated - but more detailed.
    Portion of the Pathfinder character sheet. More complicated – but more detailed.

    —

  • Mice and Mystics

    For my birthday, my parents gave me Mice and Mystics. It’s a role-playing-game-in-a-box where several adventurers have been turned into mice to escape the wrath of the evil Venestra. You battle against roaches and rats instead of owlbears and manticores.

    We opted to do the side quest in the Kitchens and handled the Roaches, Miz Maggie, and Brodie successfully.
    The centipede and spiders took a toll on us.

    Unforunately the next-to-last tile had a tough encounter and we couldn’t keep our mice from being captured. We ran out of time for the chapter. But it was super fun and we’ll give it another try soon.

    —

  • Go Take the xkcd Survey

    It’s a totally fun way to spend three minutes of your time. This was my favorite question:

    The_xkcd_survey

    The xkcd Survey

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  • Ingress in Fort Smith

    What would a vacation be without a bit of Ingressing? Since both my parents play, it was easy to get some hacking in. We’ve done a few missions and hit a lot of unique portals. It just so happened to coincide with my 180-day platinum sojourner badge as well.

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