Gaming, Reading, Movies, Star Wars and other Geek Culture

Biggs On: 2016 Fall Classic Remarks

On October 28, 2016

The “Lets Go Cubs” (“Eamus Catuli”) sign behind right field

Ten years ago if you told me that I would be watching the Cubs in the World Series, I may not have believed you. Well the 2016 Fall Classic is here and to say I’m excited is an understatement. The really strange thing is, it’s actually kind of stressing me out. We have all been waiting our whole lives to make it to the World Series that I can’t bear the thought of losing. I am trying to talk myself off the ledge in preparation for the worst case. I almost wish they didn’t make it so I wouldn’t be feeling all this angst.

I keep telling myself that regardless of the outcome, celebrate the end of the 71 year drought. If we end the 108 year “alleged curse” then there will be a cacophony of rejoicing and thousands of grown men crying. The “Anno Catuli” sign, in right field, will finally read all zeros for the first time. Year after year the Cubs have left us all feeling disappointed. Losing this year would be the ultimate disappointment, which scares me. Will the “lovable losers” still be lovable? On the other hand, Facebook is full of wonderful and endearing stories by some of the Cubs oldest fans.

#LetsGo for Styrlund and Bell

Two of the most extraordinary stories are about two of the oldest, known Chicago Cubs fans. Raymond Styrlund is 105 years old and Mavis Bell is 107 years old. Mavis was born the year after the Cubs last won the World Series. Looking at the faces of these people and reading their stories you want the Cubs to win more for them than for yourself. Many of them are relishing that the Cubs are even in the World Series. The look of pure delight on their faces is what makes it all worth it, regardless of the outcome.

Styrlund and Bell don’t have too many more years left on this earth. Witnessing their Cubs win the World Series would be fulling a 100-year-old life ambition. As much as I would be devastated if the Cubs were to lose, I would feel more sorrow for folks like Raymond and Mavis that have, literally, waited over a century.

A Sports Story for the Ages

We have two teams with the longest World Series drought in baseball. The players of both teams are playing to erase the past. The fans of both teams are hoping to see a championship for the first time in their lives. Regardless of who you are rooting for; regardless of who wins, this is an epic event it sports history. I’m glad to be here talking about it and witnessing it. It’s a story for the ages.

#FlyTheW

I could accomplish so much more if I only had minions!

TBT: A Boilermaker Homecoming Anniversary

By Biggs

On October 27, 2016

In Reminiscence, TBT

It has been a really long time since I have written a “Throwback Thursday” post. I’m upset that I didn’t think about writing this post sooner as Homecoming was nearly two weeks ago. Therefore, this TBT post serves a dual purpose; not only was it a Boilermaker Homecoming, it was also our anniversary celebration. We were going back to see our friends, to visit our Alma Mater and to celebrate where we were married.

It All Began With An English Muffin

One of my favorite parts about going back for a Purdue football game is seeing our friends. To paraphrase what a friend once said to me, “the sign of a good friendship is being able to pick up right where you left off even if you haven’t seen each other in years“. It has been over 10 years since all of us have graduated. Every time we all get back together, it feels like we do pick right up where we left off. It’s tailgating at the home games that brings us all back together each year.

Alan and I started tailgating the fall after we all graduated. The first year we parked right in the middle of a 10 year tradition of tailgaters. We would reserve our spot on the hill by 6 am (sometimes as early as 1 am). We would walk a full size grill six blocks, at 7 in the morning to begin cooking breakfast. It was breakfast that endeared us to all those folks up and down the hill that unexpectedly had us barging in on their tradition. We cooked up several sausage and egg breakfast sandwiches on English muffins and distributed them to our neighbors.

A couple of years later Alan and I had to step away from tailgating. It was all going to end before it even began. Then along came Tammy and Mike, who picked up the mantle and have been carrying it ever since. They are doing an amazing job and I’m really glad that they have been able to continue the tradition and give us all something to come home to.

And Then “She” Joins Our Tailgate

Married at St. Tom’s

Clearly what all of our tailgates lacked were delicious desserts. As a single guy I couldn’t bake, besides my place was behind the grill. Beth was always a member of our “clan”, she hosted just as many parties as she attended inside the group. She is an amazing baker and thus provided bakery quality desserts. When ESPN GameDay came to West Lafayette, Purdue (undefeated) was playing Wisconsin (also undefeated). At this tailgate we exchanged contact information, and around Halloween when we went on our first date in West Lafayette.

In 2006, when Purdue was visiting Notre Dame, we got engaged. We got married, a year later, at the church we attended as students at Purdue, and held our reception on campus at the Student Union. We are around the 4th or 5th couple to marry within the group. Purdue holds a lot of fantastic memories. So this year we wanted to spend the weekend at the school that brought us all together. We wanted to show our daughter where we met some great friends.

Parties and tailgates, football games and breakfast club. Putt-putt, late nights at Steak-n-Shake, and midnight bowling in the Union. Squirrels in the dorm, Rez, Mario Kart and the All American Marching Band. To quote some song lyrics, they are “Nights I can’t remember, Friends I’ll Never Forget”

/Boiler Up!

TBT is one of those crazy Facebook trends. It stands for “ThrowBack Thursday” and often times people post pictures. I know the old adage “A picture is worth 1,000 words” but most of the time the pictures I want to post have a great story behind them. In my traditional nerdy fashion, instead of just a picture I want to provide a blog post for my TBT moments to share those great stories. I will not share stories in which the context will embarrass or incriminate myself or my friends and family.

Tech Talk: Lateral Career Development

By Biggs

On October 20, 2016

In Microsoft, Mobile, Tech Talk, Technology

This Tech Talk is going to be a little different than prior posts in this category. I’m not going to talk about a new gadget, technology milestone or the latest news headline. I want to know what it takes to achieve lateral career development. You can advance your career along two axes. The common route is vertical by getting a promotion, perhaps a title change and some underlings. You can also advance your career along the horizontal axis (i.e. laterally). This is most often accomplished via some form of training. When you improve a skill set or acquire new skill sets, you are a better asset.

Depending on your employer, lateral career development will not necessarily render more money. I understand for many that is the motivation behind additional training, but usually its training that isn’t very interesting. I’m talking about the kind of training that not only enhances your career but it’s also fun and interesting. There are a plethora of ways to get the training you want; Pluralsight comes to mind. However, this post isn’t about where to get your training (perhaps that can be a future post).

How Do You Transition Your Career or Integrate Your New Training?

Unfortunately this post also will not answer that question. I’m legitimately asking. In some cases integrating your new training can happen fairly naturally. For example if you are a .NET developer and you completed training on Angular development. Those two technologies are so tightly coupled, finding an opportunity to implement your new skill is going to be easy. I know that because I have done it.

On the other hand, what if you are a .NET developer and you completed training on iOS or Android? These two technologies are obviously two completely different worlds. I’m not necessarily suggesting a permanent transition. It might be for some but personally I want to increase my skills beyond .NET (and perhaps even my value to my employer). The challenge is overcoming the pigeon-hole of so much time working in one technology.

This kind of lateral career development can be stymied by various factors. Priority, budget, opportunity or even employee perception can be a factor. Of course the obvious hindrance is experience. The developers with more experience are the first to be selected for the project. It goes back to that age-old conundrum “you need experience to get the job but you need the job to get the experience“. Your expertise is more cost-effective on a project where you can be the most efficient.

How Do You Get on a Relevant Project?

Again I’m legitimately asking! Obviously this is beyond your control. I imagine certain things have to align properly. First you need people who are willing to let someone with little to no experience work on a project. Then, of course, the right opportunity has to come along. It will probably have to be something that is low risk and has a flexible timeline.

I’m curious if anyone has had any recent success expanding into other technological paradigms. Working in the same technology every day for several years starts to feel pretty stale and mundane. I understand that mundane usually means job security but it kills ambition. I found this quote by T.S. Eliot – “If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?” Sometimes you have to push yourself to get to the next level but it does help if there is someone willing to take a chance on you.

Perhaps that’s all it takes to make that lateral move; someone who recognizes your potential and gives you a shot. The greater the risk the greater the reward. I guess, in the meantime, you keep working on those projects at home. It will help keep your skills sharp and you have the free reign to push the envelope a little bit.

/cheers

The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do
– Steve Jobs

Star Wars: Final Rogue One Trailer Looks Exciting!

By Biggs

On October 13, 2016

In Movies, Star Wars

Here it is folks! The final Rogue One trailer before its December release! I reiterate, this movie is definitely a movie for the fans. I do not expect it to produce the same box office cash as The Force Awakens. After watching only four seconds into the trailer and I was amorous! Michael Giacchino is the composer for Rogue One while John Williams continues to focus on the main story line. However, I think the score is going to be just as good as a Williams score. Jyn is going to be a fantastic new Star Wars hero and Donnie Yen looks to be as much of a bad ass as Ray Park was for Darth Maul. Oh, and then there is Forest Whitaker!

Enough Commentary!

All right, enough with the verbose introduction (just trying to meet some of the SEO requirements for a post 🙂 ). Here is the trailer!!

I admit that I’m geeking out a little bit. I’m really excited for this movie and I can’t wait to see it with my other Star Wars buddies! If you are not sure whether you are going to go see this movie then be sure to come back here after its release. I will make sure that I provide a relevant review of the movie and I hope it will help you make your decision.

/MTFBWY

The Force. It calls to you. Just let it in.

WoW: Leveling Your Professions In Legion

By Biggs

On October 10, 2016

In Gaming, MMORPG, World of Warcraft

Blizzard is trying something new this expansion in regards to professions. Instead of the classic “make x number of widgets”, each profession now has quests. These quests require you to travel all over the Broken Isles to learn from other masters of the trade. There are some quests that require you to enter dungeons (even the Mythic-only dungeons). Leveling your professions has always been a necessary evil and often times quite taxing. The quests do seem to add new depth to them instead of standing by the forge smelting 300 bars. However I can see how the constant queuing for dungeons may eventually feel burdensome and mundane.

I have completed the full gambit of quests and dungeons for tailoring and enchanting. I’m working on mining and engineering now (yay! my paladin is 110!). I don’t feel like its too annoying to have to go into 3 or 4 different dungeons, yet. I may feel differently by the end of the year when I’m working on a 5th or 6th alt. Especially since I’m not too happy about a profession quest that is gated behind a Mythic dungeon (that requires 4,000 Honored rep to unlock).

Will This Kill Professions?

I know of some players that just won’t bother with professions; a choice they made long before this expansion. I’m sure there are some players who begrudgingly pick up professions perhaps for end-game content or just a means to make money. It does beg the question as to whether this new mechanic for professions will do more harm than good. Technically, you don’t have to complete the quests to reach 800 skill points in your profession. In fact, you can still reach the max level doing it the old fashioned way, however you will need to complete a few quests to learn some recipes.

Logistically, I’m still on the fence about the changes. When you think about it, the effort you need to max out a profession is pretty comparable to running a couple of dungeons. If you wanted to make that one “orange” item, that you know would give you the last point you need, you needed to farm for days or spend a small fortune in gold.

Speaking of spending a small fortune, you also have to keep in mind that this method means you don’t have to purchase new recipes from a trainer. Each quest may teach you a new recipe, so imagine the gold you are saving by not having to buy every new recipe. In fact you are actually making money because some of the quests also reward gold.

Ranking Seems Superfluous

Most Legion crafting professions now have three ranks (indicated by stars). The only advantage you receive with each new rank is fewer materials needed to craft the item. I think this is a great advantage for the early part of the expansion but as more people level more alts, the quantity of materials becomes less of a concern. Therefore I think the ranking becomes superfluous when the only benefit is fewer materials. I would much prefer a crafting model similar to the crafting mechanic used in Star Wars: The Old Republic where each higher “rank” has better stats.

Actually, when I think about it, perhaps each higher “rank” should have a greater probability of upgrading the item upon completion. The highest (crafted) item level I have seen, thus far, is 815 but World Quests are awarding items much higher than that. I think World Quests are great but they are slowly marginalizing Tailoring, Leatherworking and Blacksmithing to transmog professions.

So has leveling your professions become an inconvenient frivolity? It may depend on what your end-game goals are. If you are raiding Normal/Heroic/Mythic content then some professions will provide excellent supplements toward those goals. Granted this will come mostly in the form of Enchanting, Alchemy and Jewelcrafting. I appreciate that Blizzard tried to make professions more interesting. It’s unfortunate that they put so much hard work into these profession quests but the rewards are hardly worth the effort. I expect to see some tweaks to professions in upcoming content patches.

/cheers

If zombies attack the world, everyone will run and hide. Except for us gamers, of course. We’ve been waiting for this all our lives!

The Big Bang Theory Does Not Mock Geeks

By Biggs

On September 21, 2016

In Geek Canon, General Cogitation, Soapbox

My favorite type of sitcoms are, what I call, highbrow comedies. Fraiser was the first, and will always be, my favorite highbrow comedy. I enjoyed it because the dichotomy that people with an extensive vocabulary are not necessarily haughty or persnickety. Despite their affluence they still found themselves in the same awkward predicaments as Ross, Rachael, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe. When Fraiser ended in 2004, after 11 seasons, I thought it was the end of highbrow comedy, until I found The Big Bang Theory.

I own the same caffeine molecule shirt BEFORE I saw it on TBBT

I was surprised to learn there are other individuals like myself (i.e. geeks) who felt the show made a mockery of geeks. I disagree, I think The Big Bang Theory does not mock geeks. In fact, it teaches us to embrace who we are and it teaches the world to accept us the way we are.

The Big Bang Theory paralleled my life in some capacity. Actually it was almost uncanny in many situations. When I saw Leonard wearing that caffeine molecule shirt I knew I was going to enjoy how the show was analogous to my life. It starts its 10th season this year, and the show still makes me laugh myself to tears. It’s the intellectual, re-imagining of Friends.

The Tropes are the Pillars of Our Identity

The show does make heavy use of geek cultural tropes. Comic books, Star Wars, Star Trek, super heroes, video games, etc! These are not tropes, they are the pillars that define us! It is that sense of identity that makes the show so easy to relate to. Let’s face it, we were all socially awkward and intimidated by the opposite sex when we were younger. It’s possible some are the same as adults. When we were growing up, because we preferred books to booze and video games to sports games, we were “geeks”. Today, “geek” doesn’t have the same negative connotation.

When I was a kid, it was a huge insult to be a geek. Now it’s a point of pride in a weird way. – J. J. Abrams

Perhaps those that find the show offensive to geeks are marred by the demons of their past. When you spend your whole life trying to discard that label, you have a hard time letting go of that negative association. If The Big Bang Theory has taught us all anything, it’s that our perseverance will pay off. Penny and Leonard’s relationship shows us that smart is the new sexy; they don’t ignore the “nerdy guy with the hot girlfriend” dichotomy. We can “get the girl” and still be true to ourselves.

Geek is Passion

So I do understand why some may find the social structure in The Big Bang Theory difficult to believe. Bullying back then was just as awful as bullying is today. It’s very difficult to overcome. Our damaged self-esteem makes us believe we will live a lonely and clandestine life. The Big Bang Theory shows us that you can overcome bullying, love something with unbridled passion, and NEVER be afraid to show it. Let go of those old wounds because, in reality, we are all geeks about something.

Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It’s basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating. – Simon Pegg

I could accomplish so much more if I only had minions!

Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences