Random update 3-29-15

On 03/29/2015 at 07:49 PM by Ranger1

Ranger Stuff: First day back to work at the Park!!! To say I'm happy about it is an understatement. I woke up not feeling so great this morning and debated working today (I usually have Sundays off until Memorial weekend), but I'm glad I went in. Pretty easy first day, mostly catching up with my boss about stuff from the winter, as well as upcoming events. Then a quick cruise through the parking lots picking up a minimal amount of trash and noting what trees need to come down this spring and which signs need work, and then Andy (my boss) met me and we scouted for the pre-school program for our intern. No animal tracks to be found, but it's terrible snow for tracking right now. Then we went down to shore to check and see if the island ospreys were back yet. Nope, not an osprey to be seen. I think this may be the first year I've come back before them. We also have a very fat red squirrel hanging out on the little covered entryway and getting into the litter bucket. I think she's preggers, so probably eating for five. She's not happy with me, I put a lid on the bucket so she couldn't strew trash all over the yard at HQ.

Birthday Stuff - My birthday was the 21st. No gaming swag, but Jason paid for the tickets for a folk concert, my gramma sent me a little bit of money, a friend bought me a Firefly-inspired bag, another friend gave me a stuffed loon, and my mom is paying for half of my racing snowshoes. I'm putting the money my gramma sent me towards them, too, so now I only need to come up with $87.50 instead of $250.00.

Gaming: A former 1upper and current member of Pixlbit Nation recently upgraded to one of the new 3DS XLs and sent me their old one. Thank you, thank you, thank you! You know who you are . No games for it yet, but I need to to the responsible thing and pay bills first. So if anyone wants to suggest some must-have games, I'm open to suggestions.

Still playing ToX2 off and on. I'm mostly running around doing jobs so I can pay off the debt, you get good stuff if you make that happen, or so I read somewhere. Also trying to accumulate as many titles as possible before I get too close to the end.

Watching: Still watching the new Hawaii Five-O on Netflix and keeping up to date on the current shows I watch. Also watched a Norwegian movie called Flukt (Escape, if you're looking for it on Netflix), set shortly after the black plague decimated Europe, it follows a teenage girl's escape from the bandits who killed her family. It was pretty good, and I'm starting to get my fluency back, I only had to glance at the subtitles every so often instead of most of the time. I've had to put the breaks on streaming for a while, though, as I share internet with my neighbor and I've come close to hitting our download cap this month.

Reading: Reading lots at the moment, due to not being able to stream movies right now. I've read six books in the last week. Some were fluffy romance novels (they take no intellect to read, and my brain likes the occasional vacation), but mostly not. I read Bone Mountain by Eliot Pattison (one of his Tibetan mysteries), The Serpent's Tooth by Craig Johnson (one of the Longmire mysteries), Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz, and I'm still plugging away at The Iliad. I'm using the library more, trying to save money.

Listening: It was a week of live music last week. I talked about Anna and Elizabeth already. Jason took me to see a group called Meteora the evening before my birthday. They have amazing harmonies, I think I posted some of their stuff in previous folk music blogs. I'll repost, though, because I love their music so much. And for my birthday, I went down to the shanty session at The Press Room in Portsmouth, NH. I was supposed to drive down myself, go see my new great-nephew Gabriel and then go to the session, but my car had issues. Luckily, I'd seen my friend Charlie at the concert the night before and he'd offered to give me a ride down and I was able to get in touch with him before he left his house. In a glass half-full moment, I realized I could have as much to drink as I wanted, because I didn't have to drive! I don't drink much, so two pints of Smuttynose Robust Porters were all I required. That, and an awesome barbecue bacon cheeseburger with sweet potato fries. Good food, good friends, good drink, and song, almost perfect birthday. Only thing that would have made it better would have been if Jason hadn't had to work.

Other stuff: My mechanic gave me the sad news that I'm going to need a newer car sooner rather than later. The bottom of the trusty Subaru is rusting out and Darrel told me it was time to stop putting money into it. This makes me sad, I love that car. It's safe to drive, but it won't pass inspection in August. So I've got a little time to scrape up something. But it's an expense I really didn't need right now. I'll be looking for another Subaru, can't beat them in the snow, and around here, that's a major consideration when buying a vehicle.

So that, Pixlbit Nation, is what I've been up to for the last week and a half.

Cary Woodham

03/29/2015 at 08:20 PM

Happy Birthday! Have a power pellet!

Ranger1

03/29/2015 at 08:21 PM

Thanks, Cary! Nom nom!

mothman

03/29/2015 at 08:45 PM

Birthday on the 21st? did I miss a memo?

Super cool that you have a 3DS now. Buy lots! So many great games and lots of RPGs too.

I want to try that porter.

Oh and the Meteora song was excellent.

03/30/2015 at 08:42 AM

Peter - yes, you missed the memo. It was in my last blog entry, lol.

That porter is amazing.

And which one of the two songs I posted by Meteora are you referring to?

03/30/2015 at 09:52 AM

The Farthest Wave and happy belated birthday.

03/31/2015 at 01:29 PM

I love both songs, but I wish it were the whole of Tebe Poem and not a fragment. That one sends chills up my spine when they sing it.

Super Step Contributing Writer

03/29/2015 at 09:28 PM

Happ birthday once again! Hope you have luck in finding a new car. I love the old Honda Accords I drive, but never considered their snow readiness.

03/30/2015 at 08:44 AM

Joe, an advantage you have not living in the frozen north, lol. The reason Subarus are so popular in the Northeast is because of how well they handle in snowy and icy conditions. Subarus are now the seconf-most popular vehicle in Maine after Ford F-150s.

03/30/2015 at 11:38 AM

Huh. Ford F-150s are pretty dang popular in Texas too it would seem. I just imagine the standard color for them up there isn't white like it is here. lol

03/30/2015 at 11:41 AM

There doesn't seem to be a standard color up here. My dad owned a black one, a blue one, and two dark red ones that I can remember. Me, I always preferred GMCs, much to my dad's horror.

03/30/2015 at 11:48 AM

Those colors don't surprise me, since they're all dark. My parents just always told me no one really drives white cars around in places up north (Wisconsin in their case) because they'd be harder to see in the snow.

03/30/2015 at 07:40 PM

Actually, it's because you can't keep them clean. I do know a lot of people with white vehicles, but they usually look a dingy shade of grey all winter.

GeminiMan78

03/29/2015 at 10:08 PM

Happy B-day! Car troubles suck. Dropping mine off at the mechanic in the morning, steering is squirly at high speeds, don't feel safe taking it on the highway. Had to get the front end fixed couple years ago and took the cheap route, kind of regretting that now.

I still got a long way to just finish ToX, don't even have 2 yet. Been so long may have to start over.

If you don't already know of her I think you would like Joana Newsome's stuff. Just got her second album Ys a week or so ago and it is amazing. Its not new though, came out 2005 I think. Just took me that long to getting around to getting it.

03/31/2015 at 01:16 PM

I'll have to check out Joanna Newsom.

Cars are black holes that suck your money. Sigh. Hope yours was an easy and inexpensive fix.

I really liked ToX, I think it's my second favorite Tales game. One of the reasons I'm liking ToX2 so much is because all of the original party are back, plus a few extras.

KnightDriver

03/29/2015 at 11:48 PM

I have to get a new car soon too. It runs fine at 235k miles, but little things are starting to break like the exhaunt manifold and the pump that keeps the fuel fumes out. I think I might make it through the summer but after that I'll have to do something. Also an expense I don't need too.

3DS has a lot of cool games. I'm playing Fantasy Life. I just street passed someone who had logged over 200 hours in the game. Gives you an idea how much you can do in it. It's a cross between an RPG and a Harvest Moon type game. It's by Level-5 so you can't go wrong there. There's also the Mii Plaza games, two of which you get for free I believe. I'm curious if street passes will be something you might get once the park season really gets up and running. Oh yea, you can get Pokemon Shuffle for free and it's pretty fun.

03/31/2015 at 01:20 PM

When I had to have that emergency repair done last year in NH, they screwed up a bunch of things, plus, a previous owner of my car (I'm the third owner) had a trailer hitch installed that was too big for the car and that caused a lot of problems, too. But I have over 250,000 on it, and I put almost 100,000 on it myself, so not complaining. It was a good car, just wish I could have kept it longer.

As for Street Passes at the park... probably not so much. It's more of a hiking park than a picnicking park, lots of families with little kids who make them leave the electronics at home.

04/01/2015 at 01:58 AM

Our cars are about the same age in miles. I've put all the miles on mine though. It still runs fine as long as it doesn't try and kill me with fuel and exhaust fumes. I may get another year out of it.

Too bad deer and cayote don't carry 3DSes. I bet there's a McDonalds somewhere near there though. They are everywhere. I drop in them all the time now for a spot pass and I don't do fast food.

04/01/2015 at 06:40 AM

I walked through the McDs in town last night and got my first three.

04/01/2015 at 03:47 PM

Cool! I'm so obsessed with street passes right now. I haven't gone to McDees in a long time but now I'm in at least one a day trying to figure out something to get on the dollar menu that won't kill me.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

03/30/2015 at 03:09 AM

I'm really sorry about your car. That sucks. It's funny, my dad talks about cars a lot, and whenever the subject of Subarus comes up, I'm like "My friend has one. She loves it!"

03/30/2015 at 08:39 AM

Matt, my Subaru has been the best vehicle I've ever owned - most reliable, most versatile, and most fun to drive. It's a station wagon with the heart of a sports car. The speed limit up here was 65 up until a few months ago, and I would frequently look down at the speedometer and realize I was doing 80 without even realizing it. It's comfortable, lots of cargo space, and is like a tank in the snow. I'm really going to miss it. Hopefully, I can find another Subaru that I can afford.

04/01/2015 at 01:59 AM

I'm looking at Subarus right now as a possible next car. Toyota has been good to me though. They just last and last and last. No good in the snow however.

04/01/2015 at 06:42 AM

If you buy used, make sure and find out if the headgaskets have been done recently. One of the few major issues Subarus have. They need to be redone around 100,000 miles.

04/01/2015 at 03:49 PM

Gotcha.

jgusw

03/30/2015 at 09:06 AM

Happy Birthday.

Make sure you get The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

03/31/2015 at 01:21 PM

Thanks. And I'll look into that Zelda game.

Casey Curran Staff Writer

03/30/2015 at 01:11 PM

Happy birthday. I gotta recommend Link Between Worlds for best 3DS game also. But if you have the cash for it this week, Target has a great 3DS game sale going on with DKC Returns, NSMB2, Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart and Animal Crossing each for $15. I'd say outside NSMB2 (which is still fun, but not that good), you can't go wrong with any of them.

03/31/2015 at 01:22 PM

Thnaks for the list, Casey. No money for games until after the first paycheck comes in, I'm afraid. I'd feel guilty for buying games when I can't cover the rent in full.

C.S.3590SquadLeader

03/31/2015 at 11:15 AM

Happy birthday! Best of luck in finding a new car.

Thnaks, on both counts.

goaztecs

03/31/2015 at 11:25 AM

Happy Late Birthday! The presents sounds good especially the Firefly bag (I miss that show.) Sorry about your car, but those Subaru's are built like tanks. Hope you find another one soon.

I can't get into new Hawaii 5-0. I loved the original (I used to watch a lot of that and Magnum PI when I spent my summers in Hawaii), maybe its loyalty to old McGarrett and Dano. I did like the Easter Egg in the pilot of the Lincoln in the garage.

03/31/2015 at 01:27 PM

Thanks, Chris! This is what the bag looks like. It may be the girliest thing I own!

I love both of the Hawaii Five-O shows equally. I grew up with the original, but I like the unapologetic action tone of the new one. I can hear Jack Lord rolling in his grave over their use of Chevys instead of Fords, though.

04/01/2015 at 10:46 AM

Haha that bag is too cool. Kaylee is such an awesome character.

04/01/2015 at 03:51 PM

I just remembered there are free demos up on the 3DS eshop. I don't know if Bravely Default is still there, or Monster Hunter, or Code Name: STEAM, but those are the ones I've gotten over the last year.

04/01/2015 at 06:18 PM

No wi-fi at home at the moment, but thanks!

BrokenH

04/02/2015 at 02:42 AM

Haven't gotten to upgrade my gaming gear but still having fun regardless! Glad you got to listen to some sweet,sweet folk-music,Tam!

04/03/2015 at 06:54 PM

I wouldn't have either, but for the kindness of friends.

PixlBit

Random update 3-29-15

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