tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-196738592024-03-06T21:44:03.337-07:00Because I can. Or something.DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.comBlogger202125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-41365445781131798512015-02-08T01:00:00.001-07:002015-02-08T01:00:07.167-07:00DestinyMy current gun loadout in Destiny. I think I play this game too much.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXxTpayqp06JBvxmDY1DmscRFpVi6jJ-9ugOkYTeFoqt5f-1o2xTbn1ESGg_ejvgvZUy8h55ykA8kWPzyqsaNUIQvZ2RRFf4lPNymEjTsD_9PxZc0-dtgfxf-BhYBhHiKfP7MxrQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-02-08+at+12.57.52+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXxTpayqp06JBvxmDY1DmscRFpVi6jJ-9ugOkYTeFoqt5f-1o2xTbn1ESGg_ejvgvZUy8h55ykA8kWPzyqsaNUIQvZ2RRFf4lPNymEjTsD_9PxZc0-dtgfxf-BhYBhHiKfP7MxrQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-02-08+at+12.57.52+AM.png" height="320" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-72554061033549121292012-11-28T11:25:00.001-07:002012-11-28T11:25:08.699-07:00Software Development<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v620/theweaselking/main8/A8ZfAk0CAAEpTcYpnglarge_zps6b53c11f.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="512" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v620/theweaselking/main8/A8ZfAk0CAAEpTcYpnglarge_zps6b53c11f.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-57982575622808575662012-06-23T14:19:00.001-06:002012-06-23T14:19:11.405-06:00PoliticsThis isn't my usual kind of post. But it is something I am paying attention to lately and have had a friend ask for more information about being informed when voting next week. So I thought I'd write a post about some of the things I have learned. And, since I feel somewhat inadequate, I am going to use youtube clips to help illustrate the point. I probably won't go over all of the voting, but I will go over the state race as that seems to be what people are most interested in.<br />
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First is the least glamorous of the decisions to be made, state auditor. The current <a href="http://www.sao.state.ut.us/">state auditor website</a> has a mission statement that reads:<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif; font-size: 12px;">"The purpose of the Office of the Utah State Auditor is to help ensure to Utah's citizenry, legislature, government officials, and other financial information users the financial integrity and accountability of Utah's state and local governments. Our purpose is accomplished by providing independent and innovative audits and investigations, and by monitoring and advising Utah's state and local governments. Our work has helped Utah to be recognized as having financially strong and well-run state and local governments."</span><br />
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Our current auditor, Austen Johnson, has been the auditor for years. He's got a lot of experience and does what he considers important happening with the current resources he has. He has made it pretty clear that he will keep doing what he has been doing if he has been re-elected. My take is that the current office is heavier on the "monitoring" and less on the "advising". In a speech I attended last week the incumbent mentioned that he was "working with" the legislature on the best way to get the information to them. He talked about a conversation he had on creating reports about the reports that were not being addressed. My opinion is that he should not be a "yes" man and do what is asked -- but hold the legislature accountable rather than helping them gloss over the information more.<br />
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John Dougall takes the opposite approach. Not only will what gets audited change, but advisement will be a more primary role in his job. I tend to agree with him more and will likely be voting for him. He also has a sense of humor and doesn't take himself too seriously. In the video below I very much appreciate his stance on the auditor's job being to gather data to help the legislature make better decisions. He has also been 10 years in the state legislature.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/OQDS9furr-0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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There is some concern that Dougall is not a CPA. I think that leadership can and should be the primary job of this elected official, as long as the conceptual understanding is there on what the job is supposed to do. I feel similarly for the attorney general's office -- that leadership is the most important qualification rather than the actual on the ground experience. It remains to be seen if changing the direction of this elected office is a good change. I currently support this change and will be voting for John Dougall. Both men are capable and I believe will do good things for the office.<br />
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State Attorney General is the next race. This is the one I am not fully decided on. Both candidates are lawyers -- one a trial lawyer and one a pseudo-lobbyist manager lawyer. I like what the current AG office is doing and I think they are going in a good direction. Keeping John Swallow (who already works for the AG office) would continue things down the current route. Sean Reyes will likely shake things up quite a bit. This seems to be a career move for both parties so it's harder for me to judge. I think both have their merits. I am leaning towards Sean Reyes, but I have concerns with leadership and being too close to the metal with him. I am concerned about the allegations of outright lying and shady dealing of John Swallow. It has been a very heated campaign.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/h9-177HCO1A?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/b6EiS0b6RSQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Apologies, I couldn't find an independent review that was just John Swallow that wasn't a campaign video. Those are easily found on youtube if you'd like more.<br />
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Lastly, I'd like to briefly go over my feelings for the senate race. Last Thursday I heard a representative for Hatch and Dna Lilenquist speak at Spanish Fork High school. Just before we sat down I got to meet Dan and he mentioned that the best thing that has happened to his campaign was Sen. Hatch's representative. This turned out to be true that evening.<br />
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I am probably biased in this particular race. Senator Hatch is no friend to technology or intellectual property. he is the primary reason I got into politics -- <a href="http://jasonthepatriot.info/?p=876">my senator</a> doing <a href="http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2003/06/59305">crazy things</a> (not just <a href="http://sopatrack.com/congresspeople/H000338-sen-orrin-hatch">voting for</a>, but <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INDUCE_Act">sponsoring</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Act">over and over</a>!) that I disagreed with. I voted against him last term 6 years ago though I knew it would not matter at the time. This time I think Someone has stepped up that can represent Utah better than Hatch. I'll post a 90 minute debate that happened before the republican nominees were voted for by our local representatives (before the primary). It's worth skipping around in and listening to.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rcvw7NhxWyM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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There is always more but I'm well past the time I've had. Good luck voting this go-around!<br />
<br />DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-12048690435251148692012-05-30T13:00:00.003-06:002012-05-30T13:00:59.981-06:00True<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/CfSwf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="410" src="http://i.imgur.com/CfSwf.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-70050597203619532502012-03-05T07:53:00.001-07:002012-03-05T07:53:09.175-07:00Food fight<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzY9JYiY6sEDyle4k_5QOohEWCG8DMzYmqd5cPIKXIUSN0o4kRMvlACopCUOhu1LPnlzdGlXEwNrTgn6mqQNjc77Iio2YrMyar2BxS6Hafy2JuOyePdVgMtl6xnQ3S0Q_ABRrymA/s1600/422478_10150718509600996_669170995_11910641_832051194_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzY9JYiY6sEDyle4k_5QOohEWCG8DMzYmqd5cPIKXIUSN0o4kRMvlACopCUOhu1LPnlzdGlXEwNrTgn6mqQNjc77Iio2YrMyar2BxS6Hafy2JuOyePdVgMtl6xnQ3S0Q_ABRrymA/s640/422478_10150718509600996_669170995_11910641_832051194_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-39399744810395200502012-01-17T17:24:00.001-07:002012-01-17T17:24:28.587-07:00I love geek jokes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://getfile4.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2012-01-16/pibCgcGdIqpiafpvHfwgkGavHAvDdsDwrGqBDEtAJqBorgiHqDfsCeIpCuFi/rm-rf.png.scaled696.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="500" src="http://getfile4.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2012-01-16/pibCgcGdIqpiafpvHfwgkGavHAvDdsDwrGqBDEtAJqBorgiHqDfsCeIpCuFi/rm-rf.png.scaled696.png" width="550" /></a></div>DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-52536154431344368492011-12-14T20:58:00.001-07:002011-12-14T20:58:33.232-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/pointers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="299" width="360" src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/pointers.png" /></a></div>DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-85946619227260468452011-11-16T11:27:00.001-07:002011-11-16T11:46:08.264-07:00Oblig. ZeldaI saw this a few months ago, but need to save it here for posterity.
Feel free to post this in your neighborhood bulletin board next to the free pet signs.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6DiBnIYtbiL7ulLrchXNSG7V9YdOF40y3N9roqNAIXwZ9-P4XvPo3F52MeCUq7lg6p-44P3RUnjXQ_3qbtqvVvA9Wtk4tntZf7846TeUcBj94iNNdABhS8GfhNiRBgJKff3gTpg/s1600/take+this.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6DiBnIYtbiL7ulLrchXNSG7V9YdOF40y3N9roqNAIXwZ9-P4XvPo3F52MeCUq7lg6p-44P3RUnjXQ_3qbtqvVvA9Wtk4tntZf7846TeUcBj94iNNdABhS8GfhNiRBgJKff3gTpg/s400/take+this.png" /></a></div>
Not sure who did this first, but I slightly modified the wording to be the same as the original game. "Take one of these" just wasn't doing it for me, even if it's more gramatically correct.DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-25622050835795816112011-09-26T16:12:00.006-06:002011-09-26T16:12:44.678-06:00The end of the world<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA4VqSDUAZrVe-javM0kBCbGh2otV3UURgwjnQRBItVQBtobGYCiXf-DDdC4045XRwXObG7LZkXdE-802FOdtBOrPkUdbCYMhbtMSnAI3nekdilhVWWLyPzD7AQRdToc3waQ1RZQ/s1600/317349_10150329413464288_646244287_7927359_775218252_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA4VqSDUAZrVe-javM0kBCbGh2otV3UURgwjnQRBItVQBtobGYCiXf-DDdC4045XRwXObG7LZkXdE-802FOdtBOrPkUdbCYMhbtMSnAI3nekdilhVWWLyPzD7AQRdToc3waQ1RZQ/s1600/317349_10150329413464288_646244287_7927359_775218252_n.jpg" /></a></div>
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I had a friend pass this on to me today and got a good laugh, thought I'd share. =)DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-51031533432965025962011-08-24T10:25:00.002-06:002011-08-25T09:53:31.567-06:00Curious about software development?Here are a few tips from some of the major interactions between people in software development.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijh44oUNRL-kXodr6HiWsWXbK4mzsszCdkQKing6THyW-sUvao10XbcP0AQVEIaUctAUroorCuJUo6Y66VobvzOwDzNtc_FbaSESo7CoQhH2ZpgS6nxJsFFKWdgcF2hXZejvuJbg/s1600/tumblr_lq6x2oPNZC1qzmowao1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="492" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijh44oUNRL-kXodr6HiWsWXbK4mzsszCdkQKing6THyW-sUvao10XbcP0AQVEIaUctAUroorCuJUo6Y66VobvzOwDzNtc_FbaSESo7CoQhH2ZpgS6nxJsFFKWdgcF2hXZejvuJbg/s640/tumblr_lq6x2oPNZC1qzmowao1_1280.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
edit: fixed image, should be un-broken now.DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-88986846636470167282011-08-10T10:44:00.000-06:002011-08-10T10:44:02.584-06:00Been too long...... since I've posted. I'll have to fix that. Soon.<br />
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For now this is all you get!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/password_strength.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="370" src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/password_strength.png" /></a></div><br />
DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-9437124874929455802011-04-18T09:20:00.000-06:002011-04-18T09:20:14.209-06:00Wisdom.I am a <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html">builder</a>. A Maker.<br />
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And I agree with <a href="http://blog.wilshipley.com/2011/04/success-and-farming-vs-mining.html">Wil Shipley</a>. I guess that means I am a farmer as well.DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-51647316833526596732011-04-13T17:27:00.000-06:002011-04-13T17:27:47.776-06:00HAHAHAHAHAHA<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SEVU-YLpM8A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-71005121187354870612011-03-31T12:06:00.000-06:002011-03-31T12:06:05.757-06:00I feel this way sometimes...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">... about movies.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cl.ly/5ebc/pirate-vs-pay.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://cl.ly/5ebc/pirate-vs-pay.png" width="386" /></a></div>DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-37389890581672843632011-03-25T13:48:00.000-06:002011-09-27T14:56:40.234-06:00Been a while...Thought this was cool.<br />
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<object style="height: 640px; width: 640px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gJ6APKIjFQY?version=3">
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true">
<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always">
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gJ6APKIjFQY?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="640"></object>DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-89169675584356048032011-02-11T13:03:00.002-07:002011-02-11T13:03:36.522-07:00So true....Why I don't play MMO's anymore...<br />
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<a href="http://nerfnow.com/comic/450">Read the text</a>.DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-14629898219099518182011-01-12T21:19:00.000-07:002011-01-12T21:19:17.579-07:00TerrainThis post was supposed to come after part 2 of my game design post. However I apparently can't be bothered with that now, I've got code to write! I'm doing no less than 3 active projects. Well, those plus some brainstorming and ideas floating around, and all that outside of work, family and church responsibilities. (I'm now teaching the 6 year olds sunday school. So far it's pretty fun!)<br />
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First, I'm working with a friend on some iPhone software to control hardware that he built. He's gotten an older iPhone 3G to control a comcast cable box and his TV. So we're probably going to go into business together to sell attachable hardware that acts as a TV remote. We'll see how that goes, we both expect to make little money off of it. I think it's hobby money for him and mostly a favor from me, but if it makes enough to cover our initial costs I'm ok with that. I mean how many people can say they have helped build hardware and software that attaches to an iPhone? =) That's project one.<br />
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Project two <a href="http://open-caching.blogspot.com/">is a bit more public</a> so far. You may not know that Garmin opened up their own geocaching website, <a href="http://opencaching.com/">opencaching.com</a> last month. I'm looking to do with it's capabilities what I intended to do years ago. When the iPhone first allowed 3rd party apps on the app store and I thought I could work with <a href="http://geocaching.com/">geocaching.com</a> to make an app. What was the point you ask? I had a plan to make geocaching software that is easy and seamless to use. That doesn't require a computer. Something you can simply use when you think about it. You can prepare offline if you'd like, but no real preparation needed. Open up the app and use it. It's been pretty fun so far to do and with this project I'm feeling like I'm (finally) hitting my stride with iOS programming. Maybe I'll even port it to android. Well, probably not, but it would be fun. You know, with all of my extra time. Doh.<br />
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Lastly is the project I'm most excited about. Mostly for my geeky self, but still something new and exciting that I've never done before. Well, not anything other than plain text. That's making games.<br />
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The end goal is to take the initial design of what I and a friend came up with in high school. Slycrel. (I really need to post about that too don't I? I need a blogging secretary) For starters though we wanted to make a simple dungeon crawl. Since after some discussion we realized that to make the entire game at first... well, it likely wouldn't get finished.<br />
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So I pulled out my favorite 2d graphics engine for iOS <a href="http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/about">cocos2d</a>. There are lots of games made with this free engine already and I've used it before in some small side projects. I then found some great tutorials on how to build a world <a href="http://www.raywenderlich.com/1163/how-to-make-a-tile-based-game-with-cocos2d">out of tiles</a>. It turns out that there's a <a href="http://www.mapeditor.org/">really cool free application</a> that you can download to make 2d tile-based maps and cocos2d uses it. There are 3 parts to this tutorial and I followed all 3, doing some heavy modifying to the third. That was new year's day, and I had a lot of fun doing it. I now had a ninja game where a ninja went around collecting cactus roses and bird enemies flying at him. My kids have a good time with it. What's cooler than ninjas in the desert throwing ninja stars!<br />
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I then set out to do something harder. I am not content to simply make maps and levels to go through. I want the computer to do the hard work. So I set out to learn about how I would go about making a tile map entirely within the program that uses it. The initial answer was to generate some XML files that looked the same as what was output from the tiled app. I wasn't happy with that. So I did the next best thing -- I made a template for my maps in tiled, that I could use to generate in my program. I also made my own tiles with simple graphics that I swiped from some earlier slycrel projects as well as solid colored tiles to have something definitive.<br />
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After a bunch of debugging and general grumpiness, I was able to not only throw together a map, but add crude roads and trees on top of it! nice!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWitBxl1DWdk9hVkyQp6pEocLsTDD1esENpyicwS8AMRS2bbBg_DWvYwfD6WFPEb-F7rccL_7abTJH9JMrdUFyZL34c_YWiY-BYqfT16n9Z8wLBCOBAZAEYbUOb2qDh7TIp8xsw/s1600/clown+barf.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWitBxl1DWdk9hVkyQp6pEocLsTDD1esENpyicwS8AMRS2bbBg_DWvYwfD6WFPEb-F7rccL_7abTJH9JMrdUFyZL34c_YWiY-BYqfT16n9Z8wLBCOBAZAEYbUOb2qDh7TIp8xsw/s400/clown+barf.PNG" width="266" /></a></div><br />
Uh... great! Clown barf!<br />
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I should back up and explain what the tiles are above. Blue is water/ocean, brown is dirt/earth, green is grasslands/plains, the odd half-circles are hills and the grey represent mountains. On top of these are two different kinds of roads (straight and a bend) and trees. Not particularly map-like. It's... well, random.<br />
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Really it looks like nothing, but I had my foundation. My friend and I discussed ways to do this and he found an excellent article online about something called <a href="http://www.gameprogrammer.com/fractal.html#heightmaps">height maps</a>. Shortly thereafter he made a height map implementation in java and sent it my way. After much pain with 2 dimensional arrays (sorry, TMI I'm sure, but that was the lion's share of the time embarassingly enough) I finally got it working. I modified his code a bit by porting it to objective-c for use on the iPhone and made it return percentage values for the height map. I then took the above templates and used the height map we generated (as percentages) to populate the tiles based on height, or in this case, elevation.<br />
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Here, i'll give you one of the better screenshots of my efforts. It looks almost intentional!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqLeYV66HRyprkPBq5oGlcupyykVFy1jmUtEBX679VGyWiJnfQmogy049qpR2k3jNzktwjOp4h9gWl9wwHD59mVDOc40FFos589IrvVF4j-J12ty2aUhx-O6Y9edyb3nsv4PVmg/s1600/terrain.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqLeYV66HRyprkPBq5oGlcupyykVFy1jmUtEBX679VGyWiJnfQmogy049qpR2k3jNzktwjOp4h9gWl9wwHD59mVDOc40FFos589IrvVF4j-J12ty2aUhx-O6Y9edyb3nsv4PVmg/s400/terrain.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I'll try to get around to my part 2 post here in a few weeks.<br />
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I better run, lots to do. More later! =)DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-75748388469256725502010-12-23T12:30:00.004-07:002010-12-23T12:34:50.912-07:00THought I previously posted this...... but I can't find it here. So I'd like you all to go to <a href="http://log.maniacalrage.net/tagged/cscr">this link</a> and read a few of these.<br />
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Your day will go better, I promise. =)<br />
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Merry Christmas!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l32avcW0Ky1qz74k8o1_500.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l32avcW0Ky1qz74k8o1_500.png" width="334" /></a></div>DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-91429408689174471212010-12-22T01:40:00.001-07:002010-12-22T01:42:55.001-07:00MinecraftIf you build it they will come.<br />
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Or something.<br />
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<a href="http://minecraft.net/">Check it out</a> if you're into legos and building stuff. It's pretty cool from a tech point as well.<br />
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Part 2 of the last post is coming, but probably after Christmas.<br />
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Which reminds me, Merry Christmas!DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-20996431587592816122010-11-30T21:41:00.000-07:002010-11-30T21:41:05.723-07:00Game Design Part 1Ever since I was little I've loved playing games. When I was small we used to play games like candyland, checkers, aggravation and (probably a little later) rack-o, war and other card games.<br />
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</div>I was introduced to video games at age 5. It was in the fall and we were in Sears. My dad pulled me aside and showed me the atari 2600. I was glued to it and we got one for Christmas that year.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://home.olemiss.edu/~badwf/2600box.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="http://home.olemiss.edu/~badwf/2600box.gif" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Since mid-elementary school, I've been programming with the intent of making games. I started with basic on the commodore 64. We figured out that pressing ctrl and break at once would sometimes take you back to the basic interpreter where you could view the basic source code and make modifications to variables. You could then continue the game with your (usually fatally flawed) modifications. Later at the library, there were computer magazines you could check out for a week at a time. I still remember trying to type in the game "<a href="http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue92/262_1_Canfield.php">canfield</a>" in GW-Basic. I never got it to completely work, but I did figure out some errors in the printed magazine and got it to kind of run. I remember having no idea what the asterisk, slash or parenthesis did, though I eventually figured out it was math related. I found the issue, this is apparently January 1988 that I was working out of. I think the cover helped as well, I was also interested in astronomy at this time.<br />
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In this era I was also enamored of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grailquest">Grail Quest</a> series of books and began shamelessly plagarizing by using the contents of the first Grailquest book I owned and making it into a GW-Basic game. I never got very far but I sure did have a good time with this series and learned a ton about programming. I did ghastly things like changing the screen background color randomly as well as randomly changing the text color.<br />
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In that era I played around some with my good friend's Apple IIgs and was introduced to all sorts of good games (and good times!), playing hardball 2 while waiting for the bus, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNISV7uLLc8">zany golf</a>, <a href="http://sarien.net/spacequest">space quest</a>, monte carlo and others.<br />
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Later on in high school I did some <a href="http://becauseiamthedadguy.blogspot.com/2006/08/programming.html">BBS programming</a> which I briefly mentioned at one point. Did I ever actually do a post about slycrel? Maybe another day. I enjoyed playing Doom and Doom 2 with the guys at school along with master of magic, civilization and others. <br />
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One of the guys I played with from school was the principle's son. There was a policy of no gaming on the school networked computers, but my friends went so far as to create a key logger that got us admin access. We played both sides of the fence, keeping other kids out (sanctioned) and playing games ourselves (unsanctioned). I got a preliminary knowledge of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novell_NetWare">novell netware 4</a> doing that, which was very interesting to me. I've never used it since, but conceptually it was a big deal, my first real networked IT experience.<br />
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After high school I had just about given up on gaming when I found <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/70/">half-life</a>. Half-life gave me faith that the rest of the world wasn't stupid and that good games were still out there. I decided to not give up on gaming at this point and still have some hope. College was just around the corner, and who knows where I would end up.<br />
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(To be continued...)DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-11175538511432523612010-10-28T23:38:00.002-06:002010-10-28T23:38:48.237-06:00Best costume ever<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zhl74Uk6QTY0-LZnEuJ07utWxga_SC1bVwE_FpbI6Rl0VMo8Hh9N90gnQ09yGZ69wpW7CixXM_FB-lgfGxUT9GUXsvt8UpWpeL-PJ2aLsV9h7Xa8A_BJelxJ5742lt19e1VQGw/s1600/best_of_halloween09_yipyips_xl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zhl74Uk6QTY0-LZnEuJ07utWxga_SC1bVwE_FpbI6Rl0VMo8Hh9N90gnQ09yGZ69wpW7CixXM_FB-lgfGxUT9GUXsvt8UpWpeL-PJ2aLsV9h7Xa8A_BJelxJ5742lt19e1VQGw/s320/best_of_halloween09_yipyips_xl.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-58867981495250556812010-10-20T20:26:00.000-06:002010-10-20T20:26:24.946-06:00Check this out<a href="http://struct.ca/2010/the-story-so-far/">This story</a> is kind of like a lottery winner story. Makes you want to go out and buy a ticket.<br />
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I should really get back to my <a href="http://ipadgaming.blogspot.com/">project</a>. Because I'm as much of a gambler as anyone out there. =)DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-74268831111814836322010-09-28T21:45:00.000-06:002010-09-28T21:45:02.730-06:00A Family of bridge buildersOver this past summer we have done a number of projects at <a href="http://becauseiamthedadguy.blogspot.com/2010/05/land-ho-kind-of-long-one.html">our new land</a>, dubbed stonehaven by the missus. After the Stonehaven dental radio commercials I expect that are on the radio all the time. Or something.<br />
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There are plenty of stories here to be told about the land. I should probably do so more often. Today we'll do a pictoral walkthrough of our own little bridge to nowhere.<br />
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As mentioned previously, there is a trail that walks around the 3 acres or so of property. It starts near the firepit, running north. As it gets to the north edge of the property it doubles back and runs fairly close to the back of the shed/cabin. This is so convenient to cut through, both kids and adults alike move<br />
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First, let's start with the river that needed the bridge. You can see the trail just beyond it here, curving to the right.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3KhYIAdPC5MVCzqfGDwfkyFCz983yCjq8bB2etX7HIsVr-6lcUZvaYf3FwhhWrF5MAJkKY34mTCJCDzQES1KHe-8AD_r6NJz03nu_IxAYzqC6CZmONpesVJwz7xvWcyY7Eha3Fg/s1600/IMG_0665.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3KhYIAdPC5MVCzqfGDwfkyFCz983yCjq8bB2etX7HIsVr-6lcUZvaYf3FwhhWrF5MAJkKY34mTCJCDzQES1KHe-8AD_r6NJz03nu_IxAYzqC6CZmONpesVJwz7xvWcyY7Eha3Fg/s320/IMG_0665.JPG" width="238" /></a></div><br />
The tree off to the left is my favorite baby pine tree. Because it's my favorite, I expect it to get eaten by a deer this winter. <br />
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The stream is a bit hard to see, so let's look from another angle.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6l5dPjsoQJO6K_H3qfKcuceB3qS2tbKp7pCKYRilae-ujw931rbpMdaLHZhgmICGSIXLRHPO3X1l8i9jhu-FGMRabrEl3-zAh1KZFb7seMIWhGQwkm1N3VlOyyyvGTWr8ghvyyw/s1600/IMG_0666.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6l5dPjsoQJO6K_H3qfKcuceB3qS2tbKp7pCKYRilae-ujw931rbpMdaLHZhgmICGSIXLRHPO3X1l8i9jhu-FGMRabrEl3-zAh1KZFb7seMIWhGQwkm1N3VlOyyyvGTWr8ghvyyw/s320/IMG_0666.JPG" width="238" /></a></div><br />
The rocks there in the middle are where the kids told me we would build the waterfall.<br />
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I should mention, that we inherited a busted metal gate and some scrap wood with the land. It sits right behind our <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio0w00y7OaqLyyaQo7wNJAzw3vZCMBD_rVChNqCeVEXlpgZew9dyUGuh2H83aCAzaN8BaunIR_ncKffk2yz2htQsBHnrWz5ei8BeyuwDjaUhT0Cpnyss9I4cFW25ZICYdEXMHLKg/s1600/IMG_0281.JPG">handy toolshed</a>. Pretty sure we're going to plant some trees in front of that, possibly as early as next year. You know, to improve the image some.<br />
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Anyhow. The plan was simple in my head. It didn't quite work out the way I had planned, but I think in the end it looked better than I was expecting. First we took a couple of pine logs from the woodpile for our foundation on one side. This was to help hold it against the sloping sides of the stream bed. The other side was a small length of 4x4 post that was the remains of a previous gate on the front of the property. We then hacked a bunch of 2x4's to roughly the same length and nailed it all together. We only had a few nails the first go around so we had to finish another day. The results of the first trip:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBncXm9KexpPfF_85uqGl-Kk2xD6bMBGQYcX5qvnDedpO5AP8ZFQbf_jxyBpwBemTH5fpgIVC3TvoHYBH_kpIxVVAFlTveFIRmagBMLJTtTGBRRRBvrdlPXEi0HZFN6brcHMA2cA/s1600/IMG_0668.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBncXm9KexpPfF_85uqGl-Kk2xD6bMBGQYcX5qvnDedpO5AP8ZFQbf_jxyBpwBemTH5fpgIVC3TvoHYBH_kpIxVVAFlTveFIRmagBMLJTtTGBRRRBvrdlPXEi0HZFN6brcHMA2cA/s320/IMG_0668.JPG" width="239" /></a></div><br />
You'll notice the board on the left is a bit apart from the rest. This is attached to a separate log as apparently I am pathetic at measuring, even when all I have to do is get two pieces of wood the same length by laying them side by side. My carpentry skills are not well known. For good reason.<br />
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A more clear picture of the foundation:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW3GcV8_u5P2hVM6l7MSlze_yg227hDqIq36iJmsb1qIxqr4O4OeSfqIsE-8z2oArhx4_PiMNIG0QOawTiaBurnmEpkPYlyv5Szw1Lp-iqD3sWkoEAUL4MN8EBQcA63TMA_cZG6g/s1600/IMG_0669.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW3GcV8_u5P2hVM6l7MSlze_yg227hDqIq36iJmsb1qIxqr4O4OeSfqIsE-8z2oArhx4_PiMNIG0QOawTiaBurnmEpkPYlyv5Szw1Lp-iqD3sWkoEAUL4MN8EBQcA63TMA_cZG6g/s320/IMG_0669.JPG" width="238" /></a></div><br />
Yes, that's a rock there on the left. The middle 2x4 is a bit short. The plan is to make the dirt leveled out to cover some of the flaws. At this point we didn't want anyone stepping in the slight hole that the rock is filling. At this point I'm thinking that it's not quite what I'd prefer, but I suppose it will do for the kids. I'm glad it's not front and center to show off how really pathetic mu woodworking skills are. Thankfully the appearance improves.<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">At this point the kids insisted on the side project of making the waterfall. We took a few minutes to make that happen here on the downhill side of the stream bed. This was one of the important milestones for them. Go figure.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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On our next trip two weeks later, we collected more boards like the ones above the bridge in the last picture. They look to be about a half inch thick and 4 inches wide. The original plan was to have these boards run length-wise. Primarily because it would be easier and I'm using a hand-saw to cut everything with. However after this stage we wisely decided the bridge would be much less stable if we carried through with this plan, deciding to do more cutting but have a better overall bridge. After having the kids haul in a few more from the woodpile, doing some cutting, removing a couple of splinters, we were good to go. This time we brought screws instead of nails, with the hopes that they would hold things together longer. Guess we'll see if that's true or not over time.<br />
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Here is our progress so far.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsWLiLcFDerCfdpjRDdXPmU5HEYgFSvqnXK4xpUgHWFUPk23mQw3_SvuVbXuQHmEZt1A2ZEbc7Wu88fiQGgiWZRQXdexeOZWhdVDKp-s7wagTzL6ZTtdjcl_hsBXE7yo3VoUZUag/s1600/IMG_0704.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsWLiLcFDerCfdpjRDdXPmU5HEYgFSvqnXK4xpUgHWFUPk23mQw3_SvuVbXuQHmEZt1A2ZEbc7Wu88fiQGgiWZRQXdexeOZWhdVDKp-s7wagTzL6ZTtdjcl_hsBXE7yo3VoUZUag/s320/IMG_0704.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWilymBWRguFnObrkNaaXUbGo23-vVA4OiarAQNbCYcWcGV1cTN7celuyvuDdHCpK8Y1hYAjCsMRtgJLmQxFdTsf-ey1gmDEJYvizYssj0DolniApp-eq2CSxpHqKBnH8_UYs8aw/s1600/IMG_0706.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWilymBWRguFnObrkNaaXUbGo23-vVA4OiarAQNbCYcWcGV1cTN7celuyvuDdHCpK8Y1hYAjCsMRtgJLmQxFdTsf-ey1gmDEJYvizYssj0DolniApp-eq2CSxpHqKBnH8_UYs8aw/s320/IMG_0706.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><br />
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Apparently I didn't get a cross-section after this point. You may also notice that I continued to eye-ball the lengths of most of the cuts on this wood. Partly this is on purpose, because I didn't want it to look too "clean" cut. I like the look of an obvious home-made bridge. I think that comes from growing up. There was a bridge over the 10 foot stream that exists in my grandfather's sheep pasture that I have fond memories of, made of telephone poles for the two main structures and leftover 2x6's for the planks, which are also varying lengths. Anyway. It's looking better, but nothing genius level at this point.<br />
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My wife, ever the artist, suggests we use the stain that we purchased at the beginning of summer to coat it with. Previously we had to replace the broken window in the shed, this was one of the first projects we did. Maybe later I'll post pictures of that. The point here is that we had 3/4 of a gallon of stain left over from that project. I was a bit nervous as kids with stain and paintbrushes is kind of a dangerous mix, but we ended up doing it anyway. I have to say, the end result looks really good!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii0gq_hQech4BLsjuQF9YSRxbTO0R5S4DiJbGMf5tF9r3sZFTrDWBQfp6fIwTGVBH9d-ELqWD0S-U_ucxBYUbzP5ADtfXoFOxHxGMcUpBCMD_3tYUAjCX8MMAwAicB-S0LNHAhiQ/s1600/IMG_0710.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii0gq_hQech4BLsjuQF9YSRxbTO0R5S4DiJbGMf5tF9r3sZFTrDWBQfp6fIwTGVBH9d-ELqWD0S-U_ucxBYUbzP5ADtfXoFOxHxGMcUpBCMD_3tYUAjCX8MMAwAicB-S0LNHAhiQ/s320/IMG_0710.JPG" width="239" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGUYThChgh1NLFiPnI4bTmKV21KqtK2ckm_DQpgcyJ-qrWrQIWJCSFRHb5A7G2qZObGZA_Cy14Cy3yQZG1EoYWQOFOhLWhXGglQKSDV2rzztzXDqXFMtm_jFIb0HlGRICryVZXQ/s1600/IMG_0707.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGUYThChgh1NLFiPnI4bTmKV21KqtK2ckm_DQpgcyJ-qrWrQIWJCSFRHb5A7G2qZObGZA_Cy14Cy3yQZG1EoYWQOFOhLWhXGglQKSDV2rzztzXDqXFMtm_jFIb0HlGRICryVZXQ/s320/IMG_0707.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><br />
The lighter picture here shows the structure better, the darker is closer to the actual color. It will never look this nice again, it already has a huge amount of dust on it from kids jumping up and down and such. The thing is a beast and should hold up quite well to it's environment. It's quite solid with all of those 2x4's under it.<br />
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All in all it was about a 4 hour project. The kids had a good time helping, we all learned something and best of all we now don't have to worry about stumbling or jumping across this area to get to the trail. Yay!<br />
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Until next time!DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-74634407100829680372010-09-06T19:23:00.000-06:002010-09-06T19:23:17.419-06:00I feel this way often.<a href="http://xkcd.com/222/">Does that make me abnormal?</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/small_talk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/small_talk.png" width="400" /></a></div>DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19673859.post-26624065022754750732010-08-25T12:28:00.000-06:002010-08-25T12:28:39.789-06:00Too Truemaybe <a href="http://xkcd.com/386/">this</a> is why I can't get enough sleep.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/duty_calls.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/duty_calls.png" /></a></div>DadGuyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903420036046787585noreply@blogger.com2