2009

Archive for the year 2009

Wingnuts Game

Posted on July 26, 2009 by Ching under News.

Brian and I had tickets to the Wichita Wingnuts game on Friday so we weren’t at Highlands. Had it not been a text from Misty, I wouldn’t have known that Highlands had closed. I was like, “What?” She told me it was all over the news and twitter. I felt so out of the loop. [Here’s an article that Ron Sylvester wrote about Highlands closing.]

Anyway, I immediately sent text messages to Kurt and Shane to find out what’s going on. It turns out that Highlands has closed temporarily following the judgment on Thursday. They are only closed until they can resume playing KANDU, so it’s not like they’ve closed their doors for good. Everyone is hoping for a favorable judgment in September and that Highlands will re-open thereafter.

The baseball game was a bust. I’m not sure if it was the two bottles of peach lambic I drank at Old Chicago or the news of Highlands closing that made me sick. Brian and I decided to go home early and didn’t finish the game.

It was nice having dinner with Brian’s coworker Kate and her husband, though. They are a lovely couple. We met their eldest daughter, Chelsea, and her husband Jeremy at the baseball game. Chelsea, who is 5’11” tall, was looking very much like Cameron Diaz that day. I wish I had a picture.

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Lovin’ Ryan Reynolds

Posted on July 25, 2009 by Ching under Movies.

I’m really lovin’ Ryan Reynolds right now. Brian took me to see to The Proposal last weekend and I really enjoyed it. Surprisingly, more so so than I enjoyed The Hangover. I guess I’m more of a romantic comedy type of girl, rather than that crazy, slapstick humor type stuff.

Anyway, it got me to thinking how much I have enjoyed the films that Ryan Reynolds has been in. Here are some of my favorites:

Definitely Maybe
Blade Trinity
Van Wilder

I love how funny he is, no matter what movie he is in. Ryan Reynolds has been cast as the lead in a couple of new movies slated for 2010: The Green Lantern and Deadpool. I can’t wait to watch these movies and see what he has in store for us all.

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I’m a Typing Maniac

Posted on July 25, 2009 by Ching under Games.

Typing Maniac is definitely one of those games that belong in the “games you wish you never played” category. At least this one has the benefit of improving your typing skills so it’s a time sink, but not a complete waste of time. LOL.

I’m pretty selective when it comes to online games so I managed to not get sucked in Mafia Wars like everyone else in Facebook. I played OGame several years ago and climbed the Cable Mafia ranks pretty quickly. I got tired of fleet-saving before bed and before leaving for work and I was never able to play it 24/7 like some people so my progress reached a plateau. Started to feel it was pointless, but the last straw was when my planets got attacked and my fleet was decimated. It’s tedious to rebuild so I gave up after that.

Yup. I’m a quitter. Specially when it comes to games. I’ll start games and then I’ll get bored and quit playing them. I was wise not to ever start Mafia Wars. LOL.

The only other games on Facebook I got really hooked on were Scrabulous (I think it’s Wordscraper now), pre-Hasbro craziness and, more recently Know-It-All. Brian and I used to take Know-It-All quizzes every night before bed. Except, the quizzes are only as good as their creators and some were not good at all. We eventually got bored with that one and returned to playing “Ks and 3s” (our favorite card game to play, specially while waiting for connecting flights at the airport) with each other before bed.

Yes, I know. This tells you a lot about our sex life. Normal couples have sex before bed. Old fogies like us play cards. I bet my parents are not nearly as boring as we are. LOL.

Last Sunday I discovered Typing Maniac. That’s my current online game addiction. Addiction fits because I have to play it almost every night before bed. I’ll usually play for about 15 minutes. I like it because I continue to make progress. I started out from human to courtesan to modern age man to space man. It wasn’t until then that I realized that some of my Facebook friends were playing Typing Maniac too.

I was ranked #5 after playing a few times and noticed that Elgin was #1. I thought, there is no way that Elgin types faster than me! LOL. I think about that time Pia surpassed everyone. I played a bit more and ended up second to Pia, but I was just typing away as fast as I could with no technique whatsoever.

I have now evolved from space man to cyborg to robot and here’s what I learned in the course of playing Typing Maniac for a week.

It’s not about speed, it’s about accuracy. Make perfect levels to earn bonus points and score higher. I have completed the same level both slower and faster and the score is still the same.
Don’t miss the special books (FIRE, ICE, SLOW, WIND). Words come falling down and I tried to get every single one. In the higher levels, I was often unsuccessful at keeping up. Forget the other words, always try to get the special books because they come in handy.
Always store power up books (WIND) because you’ll never know when you’ll need them. I often need to power up several times to complete the higher levels.
Try to store one of each special book, but keep in mind that your storage is limited so you cannot have an unlimited number of special books. I was picking up more special books than I could store and then kept messing up because I was trying to use books I didn’t have. I thought I had them because I got them, but they didn’t get stored because there was no more room. If you really want a specific book, then use one of your other ones to make room for it. I like to store at least one of each.
Begin the higher levels with the SLOW book. I usually start every level after 10 with SLOW. If you don’t have a SLOW book, don’t worry. One will eventually come down. Make sure that you get it.
Don’t use FIRE if there are special books. If you do, you’ll miss out on an opportunity to pick them up. I will try to get all the special books first and then use FIRE.
Try not to mess up on black books because they come down really fast if you make a mistake. I usually try to avoid these at the higher levels and just concentrate on the special books and easy words.

That’s pretty much all the tips I have. If I think of any other tips, I will share them. I hope that you guys will share any tips and tricks you have with me also.

Happy typing!