August 2009
Got myself a new PDA...
Sun, 08/02/2009 - 18:52 — Kheldar
A Hipster PDA that is (and here)... For those who don't want to bother checking the links. This is essentially a organization tool for those who don't want to spend the excessive amounts of money (or have to worry about batteries, or software, or upgrades, etc) required to get a "real" PDA.
From the first link, the steps to create your own are as follows:
- get a bunch of 3"x5" file cards
- clip them together with a binder clip
- there is no step 3
The second link above even has templates you can print out on cardstock 3x5 cards to give you charts and calendars and checklists and such.
Read moreMy girl, Sasha
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 21:44 — Kheldar
Every morning before work I head down to my basement, shut the door, and do some bible study and prayer. The door is shut to prevent distractions from our cats. After this, I head upstairs to shower and eat before heading off to work.
I've noticed lately that Sasha (our girl cat who loves me ever so much) is sitting right outside my door when I open it up to go upstairs. I'm not quite sure how she manages this, since I know she doesn't hang out there the entire time I'm down there. Either she's learned to read a clock, or she hears the computer shut off and sprints down the stairs, or who knows what.
Either way, it's pretty cute to open the door and see her waiting there for me. She's definitely my little girl!
One down
Mon, 08/10/2009 - 20:59 — Kheldar
One of the things that will be on the website I'm setting up for our church will be the recordings of our sermons made available in a manner much like a podcast (in fact, we hope to make the feed available through iTunes as well).
This last week our music minister finally got me some guitar instrumental music that he'd recorded to use as intro/outro music with the sermon recordings (it's wonderful, by the way). So, that meant it was time for me to sit down and edit the first sermon. This is actually good timing, since our pastor has just started a new series on 1st and 2nd Timothy.
Phew! It took a good longer than expected, but I finally managed to finish it up. It should get faster as I get better at it. The plan is to release the current week's sermon plus an old one from our archive once every week, so I certainly hope I get faster at it.
Read moreStep Two
Tue, 08/11/2009 - 20:26 — Kheldar
Well, it took a good bit of playing around, but I got the church website set up to host and display podcast files. It generates an iTunes-style RSS feed, meaning that we can be listed in apple.com's podcast directory. I got all of the tagging, cover image, embedded streaming player, etc. issues all worked out, and tested it using the first mp3 file I put together yesterday evening. It all seems to work, except that my Google Reader page doesn't show the first entry. I'm not sure if that's just a refresh/timing issue or what, so I'll check it out tomorrow.
Anyway, glad that's out of the way. My next task will be to get one of our archived sermons cleaned up and ready as well (I need to do at least two each week). But, I'll save that for tomorrow. Time to go play some EVE.
Done... For Now
Sat, 08/15/2009 - 15:37 — Kheldar
Well, our new church website has finally gone live. If you are interested in taking a look, you can see it here.
You might be able to tell that I built it using the same software that I'm using for this website. It's called drupal, and I've grown quite fond of it. It is very flexible, and very powerful. On the church website I've put a whole publishing workflow into place so that each post that a blogger writes up has to go through me (for basic editing) and then our pastor (for blasphemy checking, as we like to (semi) jokingly say). Then it gets placed in a queue for later publishing. It's all very slick.
Anyway, there are still some things I want to tweak about the site, but I think it basically works, and it needs to stop sitting on the back burner.
Read moreWorking out the kinks
Mon, 08/17/2009 - 20:16 — Kheldar
Well, I made a final decision on a publish schedule for the church website. Mondays will be blog posting day. Wednesday will be the latest sunday sermon. Friday will be the sermon archive.
So, this evening was spent preparing the audio file to go out Wednesday (since the later half of my week is usually shot I'll need to get both audio files prepared at the beginning of the week). I also was discovering a variety of permissions and settings that needed to be taken care of in order to get stuff running properly.
Hopefully the process will continue to smooth out. Right now it's promising to eat up a good chunk of my time... 
Georgia: Against all Odds, an EU3 AAR
Sat, 08/22/2009 - 17:27 — Kheldar
For those of you who aren't familiar with some of the terms in the title, let me give a brief explanation.
AAR - After Action Report - In gaming terms, this is when someone writes up a detailed report covering the events of a particular game. You can actually find quite a lot of these around the internet. Some are extremely well written. Some are presented in a highly fictionalized fashion. Some are pretty focused on the specifics of the gameplay. Some are intended as tutorials. Most are fairly long, as they are usually written about games that take longer to play, and most cover the game in detail. In many cases, an AAR can be interesting to read even if you've never played the game before. AARs are frequently decorated with screenshots taken while playing the game.
Read moreGeorgia: Against All Odds I
Sun, 08/23/2009 - 06:49 — Kheldar
First, some technical details about the game. I am playing Europa Universalis 3 Complete, patched up to version 3.2 beta. I'm using Magna Mundi Platinum 1.5. I did play a couple of very short test games to try a couple ideas out and see how plausible it would be for me to play Georgia. In real life, Georgia remained an independant country until 1555 when the Ottomans and the Safavids divided the country between them. My goal for this game will be to at least survive past that year. There are new patches for both the core game and Magna Mundi coming out in the next couple months, so I do not plan for the game to run for too long. Even if I survive past 1555, I will likely not play until the game's end date.
Read moreGeorgia: Against All Odds II
Mon, 08/24/2009 - 07:00 — Kheldar
Having already taken a good look at the external issues facing our country, it's time to peer into the internal status.
Georgia is a Feudal Monarchy ruled by King Giorgi VII. Despite fancying himself a great general, the King has only a little experience in such matters. His talents in administration and diplomacy are not even worth mentioning, except to say that his presence on the throne greatly cheers our enemies. He has ruled since the beginning of 1446, and has accomplished little. His court of advisors contains no one of any note, leaving the King unassisted in matters of state.
Read moreGeorgia: Against All Odds III
Sat, 08/29/2009 - 17:21 — Kheldar
"Your Majesty, I beg you to reconsider!"
"No time for that now." King Giorgi VII didn't even look back as he strode from the palace.
"But, Your Majesty, the risk! Our lands will be overrun by heathens, our people will be slaughtered! You can not do this!"
Giorgi turned back around on his heel. "You will not tell me what I can and can not do." Giorgi gestured off towards the parade ground where the entire army stood at attention to the sound of a single drummer. "That sound you hear is the sound of destiny, the sound of glory. The sons of the Khan stand alone. None will come to their aid. The time to attack is now. We can not fail."
He stood for one long moment to see if any response would be attempted. Then he turned and strode off towards his waiting men.
~~~~~~~~~~
Read moreGeorgia: Against All Odds IV
Sun, 08/30/2009 - 20:11 — Kheldar
On July 1, 1453, King Giorgi VII officially declared war on the Golden Horde. He'd only just arrived in Alania with the army and was still in the process of integrating the new mercenaries with the regular troops when scouts reached him with news that the Golden Horde was raising troops in Astrakhan. With some luck, the king hoped to be able to march in and disrupt the enemy troops before they were fully prepared for battle.
Out of courtesy the king had sent word to Ak Koyunlu and Shirvan who had pledged to join us in any war that might arise. Little help had been expected from them however, and sure enough, they quickly sent replies to the effect that they could not commit to any action at this time.
Read more