Storypost | 2016.06.22

East Bay view fog rolling in tuxedo
Bay Area

Ty got married.

East Bay view Abolish Sleevery Donald Pump

There was some rare SF/Oakland sunshine for the rehearsal.

Just some bros hanging out

After a dinner at Skates (the fish) on the Bay, we all packed into Ty's apartment like so many sardines.

Chicken and waffles Barber shop east bay Barber shop east bay Barber shop east bay

The morning of the wedding, we took turns getting straight razor shaves. A few of us went for chicken and waffles.

thumbnail Dudes on the street thumbnail Dressing for a wedding thumbnail Dressing for a wedding thumbnail Tuxedo reflection
thumbnail Tuxedo bow tie

Clean-shaven, we headed back to the Claremont to get ready for the ceremony.

thumbnail Groomsmen thumbnail Groomsmen thumbnail Klay Thompson hotel lobby
thumbnail Wedding reception
thumbnail Wedding bus thumbnail Wedding reception science hand pins

Then the usual stuff; tuxes, photos, seeing Klay Thompson walking his dog through the lobby, a bus ride, a very nice ceremony and dinner at the Lawrence Hall of Science.

Lake Merritt Oakland tennis court

The following day, Team Ritchie defeated Team Lane in straight sets at a unique tennis court next to Lake Merritt.
Renovations

I installed a couple of gates in the backyard. And then piped in the vanity in the master bathroom. The vanity required some additional work to accommodate two sinks, but it was no big deal. Now to find a mirror, light, and shelf.

Morgan gate backyard Vinyl gate backyard Vanity installation
Shanghai Saloon

In all my spare time I've been able to follow Copa America and Euro - it's great to have on while doing work. The US effort came to a screeching hault against Argentina, but at least we did it at Dumpling Inn.

Dumpling Inn Shanghai Saloon couches Dumpling Inn Shanghai Saloon couches
Rocket League

Rocket League screenshot PCP AHH IPLAN TODEMOLISH FRIENDLY GESTURES

With Arthur in town it seemed reasonable to go old school and play some couch co-op. I had Rocket League sitting around on the PS4 since it was the PS+ free game. It's not easy, particularly with the matchmaking algorithm. But you can't go wrong with car soccer.

Warframe


Warframe seems to just keep on giving. Word is there's a Tenno rocket league coming out soon. Less ambitiously, a new boss battle appeared last week. I've run into a couple crazy (and dominant) abilities, including a teammate with four sentinel-looking dudes wrecking stuff for him. And there was an tentacley AOE that was extremely useful in defending cryopods.

thumbnail Warframe Ember Grineer boss battle thumbnail Warframe Odonata thumbnail Warframe Ember tentacles thumbnail Warframe Ember tentacles thumbnail Warframe Mag Orokin cloud Mirage
thumbnail Warframe Ember laser air ducts thumbnail Warframe Mag Orokin hallway thumbnail Warframe Grineer arena

J came across a crazy room in the Void. It looked like it would lead to crazy treasure, but we couldn't figure it out.

Kafka with tuna crabs

Mission Bay red crabs dead dog weimaraner



Storypost | 2016.06.01

Beer crawl exploration St Archer San Diego
Camp'n'crawl day two


Last year some League of Sporters undertook an incredible journey, one that proved too strenuous for a single weekend. But like any semi-casual athlete, giving up just isn't in our nature. To celebrate Dave finishing his master's, we completed the second leg of the Camp'n'crawl.
thumbnail Green Flash brewery dogs thumbnail Reckless brewery thumbnail Reckless Street Fighter II thumbnail Division 23 brewery
thumbnail Reckless brewery pint glasses
Tropico 5

Tropico sunset view

Since J was on vacation - meaning Warframe just wouldn't be as fun - I decided to try the PS+ May game. It turned out to be one that I had considered before finally settling on Cities: Skylines.

Tropico port container ships

Tropico 5's premise is that you're a colonial-period governor who leads his island through independence, world wars, the Cold War, and finally modern times. It's SimCity without quite so much infrastructure management (e.g. there's no traffic) and Civilization without so many diplomacy, research, and strategic dimensions. In contrast to Cities: Skylines, Tropico gives you large and small objectives that provide a distinct purpose and finite victory condition at the cost of sandboxiness.

Tropico trade export natural gas

Resources are gathered, processed, and sold as the main method of generating income. Income is then invested in businesses and policies. So you don't have to worry about fabricating bricks to build a guard tower, but if you want to sell cars to Russia you need bauxite + steel (iron + coal + smelter). It's a reasonable level of complexity, although you do need to frequently check trade offers for sweet new deals.

Tropico screenshot Textile Mill

There is a tech tree, but it's fairly flat. It just gives you progressive unlockables to keep with the ever-changing times. Technology permits new policies, new buildings, and new building upgrades. Building upgrades are a nice way to keep old construction relevant, but can be a pain to navigate. Thankfully there is an "upgrade all of this type" option, if you can afford the undertaking.

thumbnail Tropico 5 aircraft carrier thumbnail Tropico 5 guard tower thumbnail Tropico 5 observatories thumbnail Tropico 5 airport
thumbnail Tropico 5 airport thumbnail Tropico 5 missile launch thumbnail Tropico 5 temple ruins
thumbnail Tropico 5 circus thumbnail Tropico 5 missile silos

Tropico constitution Police State Happy Childhood Immigrants Nation

Like Civ, Tropico lets you choose how to run your country. You can be the elected leader of a free society, or you can be the autocrat pulling the strings of your banana republic. Tropico seems to want you to choose the latter, and this is where it really stands apart. The game is brutally hilarious. The load screens mock historical dictators, government policies are deliciously propagandized, and basically all the lore text pokes fun at something.

thumbnail Tropico 5 library book bbq thumbnail Tropico 5 milking a bull thumbnail Tropico 5 Ceausescu Champs Elysees
thumbnail Tropico 5 Penultimo oil
thumbnail Tropico 5 Penultimo Brokeback Mountain thumbnail Tropico 5 Cold war policies


Tropico screenshot battle rum

Maybe it's because I went with the dictatorial path (elections are so hard to win), but I had a tough time keeping my islanders from rioting and my military from couping. The situation reports the game provides are a bit tough to parse, and there's not too much motivation to learn since you can generally get by without.

Tropico 5 mig jet Tropico 5 missile launch Tropico 5 tanks in the streets


Of course there are disasters, but nothing so bad its worth ragequitting over.

Tropico 5 meteor Tropico 5 tornado nuclear power plant Tropico 5 volcano
Warframe


J and I have played a bit more Warframe. There were a few things I knew I was working toward:

Warframe Mag moon ship
New mission locations.

Bosses.

Warframe screenshot Nyx kubrow Atomos
New warframe suits.

Warframe kubrow pats Stug
Adopting a kubrow.

But there were a few 'whoa' moments:

Orokin locations.

Warframe Mag archwing space debris Odonata
Combat in open space.

And, well, figuring out the inventory, upgrade, and loot systems.

thumbnail Warframe archwing thumbnail Warframe Grineer hologram thumbnail Warframe infected explosions
thumbnail Warframe arrow to the dome
thumbnail Warframe Atomos ADS thumbnail Warframe Rhino kubrow thumbnail Warframe Mag orokin hallway
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thumbnail Warframe orokin portal room thumbnail Warframe Mag laser security thumbnail Warframe syndicates arbiters of hexis
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thumbnail Warframe Mag archwing space thumbnail Warframe Mag cryopod