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Playing For Blood

Parenting

Toys of Christmas Past
Image by brizzle born and bred via Flickr

Kris at Every Tips and Thoughts wrote a post about games and letting her kids win feeling bad about winning.  I disagree.  This post is an expansion of my comment there.

When we play games in my house, we play for blood.   I’ve never let my kids win and they know it.  From the first time the kids attempt Memory, they know they’ve got to earn a win against Mom and Dad.   They know if they lose, they must do so gracefully.  If they pout or cry, they lose game privileges for a while.  I demand good sportsmanship, win or lose.

To be clear, my kids are 3, 4, and 11 and they are all held to the same standards of sportsmanship.   Win or lose, they will do so gracefully.   There will be no temper tantrums when they are Sorry’d and no pouting when the Queen is captured.

It took my son almost 3 years to beat me at chess.   When it finally happened, he was almost as proud as I was and still talks about it 5 years later.

It’s not much fun playing games with his friends. They were coddled and expect to win everything.  I have to take away game privileges just like I do for my 3 year old.  They hate that because we have the coolest board games.   Nobody else has games that involve zombies or disembodied brains.

What has the result been?

My kids love playing games.   This week, my oldest has been teaching his sisters how to play Life.   When he visits his friends, he’s as likely to bring a board game as an electronic game.    He’s got a good mind for strategy, and I can’t remember the last time he pouted when I tromped him.

My 4 year old hasn’t mastered gamesmanship yet, but she will.  When I threaten to put the game away, she wipes her eyes, and keeps playing, even if her jaw is chattering.   She knows what is expected and works to live up to it.

Both of the older kids are competitive.   They’ve never had a win handed to them, and they have each had wins they had to work for, and they know how it feels to win and earn it.

The youngest doesn’t care if she wins, she’s just happy to play.   In my experience, the competitive gameplay gene doesn’t activate until 4.

In my mind, the real world won’t hand them any wins, so I might as well start teaching them how to work for it now.

How about you? Do you let your kids win, or do you teach them that all games are bloodsports?

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Good Friday

Life, Parenting

We don’t have daycare on Good Friday.

We do, however, both have to work today.   Two rounds of little-girl tonsillitis have zapped our available vacation time.

On an entirely related note, we put our 12 year old son through Red Cross babysitter training a few weeks ago, just for something like this.

My wife gets nervous at the idea of leaving the girls with the boy for very long.  I think she thinks the world will explode if he takes care of them correctly.

Our solution for today is to have a slightly older friend come over and help.

She’s 13 and she brought her 10 year old brother with her.

That’s kids aged 3,5,10,12, and 13 in my house today.   Total Lord of the Flies.

Hold that thought.

My son, being 12, doesn’t feel it’s necessary to brush his hair for school, or change his clothes every day, and he needs to be reminded to brush his teeth.

This morning, he woke himself up and ran into the bathroom.  He emerged with clean teeth and combed hair.   I asked him if he was wearing the same shirt as yesterday, and he flew into his room to change.

Hmm.  Something is afoot.

While I was putting my shoes on, I reminded him to take care of the house and his sisters, and he made some smart-aleck joke in response.

She giggled.

Watson, I think I’ve found a clue.

Her father told me, just yesterday, the she thinks boys are gross.

The boy has never shown an interest in girls, until this morning.

Grr.   The next decade just got considerably more interesting.

Time to lock them both in their respective basements until college.

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Expensive Cheese

Finance

Saturday morning, I woke up to a room-temperature refrigerator.   I dislike drinking milk that’s 40 degrees warmer than I’m used to.

We called the repairman who showed up at 9PM and poked around in the fridge for a bit before announcing that he didn’t have the needed parts in his truck.

The parts came Monday.  The next repairman got there Tuesday afternoon.   For those of you keeping track at home, that’s nearly 4 days without a refrigerator.

That poor bacon.

Tuesday’s repairman didn’t think highly of Saturday’s.  Apparently, the two parts Saturday ordered never go bad at the same time, so he was guessing.

He also didn’t notice the slice of individually wrapped American cheese that had slipped between a shelf and one of the cold-air vents, preventing any air flow at all.

Grr.

I wish I would have noticed that on Saturday.   I now own the most expensive cheese in the world.   It’s not Pule, which comes in at $616 per pound.  This lowly slice of American cheese cost me nearly $200.  At one ounce per slice, that’s $3200 per pound.   Of course, I’m counting the lost food.   My hamburger, eggs, bacon, milk, and mayonnaise are gone, along with every other perishable bit of food we had on hand.

I don’t know how much the repairs cost.   Saturday’s visit, minus the parts, was billed at $95.  I didn’t see the total for Tuesday’s visit.

We pay for a repair plan through our gas company.   For around $15 per month, we get a list of appliances protected.   We don’t have to worry about our washer, dryer, water softener, stove, refrigerator, or our sewer main.    Assuming Tuesday’s visit was billed the same as Saturday’s, this one repair paid for the plan for an entire year.   When you count our sewer main–which backs up with tree roots once a year and costs at least $200 to fix–the repair plan is definitely worth it for us.

When we get tenants in my mother-in-law’s house, we’ll have the repair plan set up there, too.

Do you use any kind of repair plan?  How is it working out for you?

 

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GTA 5: Do Moving Release Dates Boost Sales?

Business

English: The Rockstar Games logo. Português: O...
English: The Rockstar Games logo. Português: O logotipo da Rockstar Games. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Grand Theft Auto 5 is the upcoming gaming title developed by Rockstar Games, set in the . Grand Theft Auto has been a perennial classic and the definitive gaming series for Rockstar Games, creating the modern urban sandbox game and similar gaming titles such as Saint’s Row. The release date for GTA 5 was originally planned at the beginning of the year in spring 2013, but was pushed back to September 17. Does moving release dates have any noticeable effect on the sales of video games?

One of the most important effects of moving release dates is to afford the studio and developers of the game more time to put finishing touches on the game. Two examples of games being rushed by developers, possibly in order to meet release dates by studios, are Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3. In this case, moving the release date may appease anxious fans for a short amount of time, but the quality of the game may not hold up to expectations. This is particularly obvious in Mass Effect 3, where the lackluster ending stood out as an enormous drawback to the game and may even lower sales of future games planned in the Mass Effect universe. There was a huge divergence in the quality of the ending compared to the quality of the rest of the game that prompted many gamers to deduce that the ending to the game was rushed. This is particularly damaging to a game which has built up to the ending in the trilogy only to disappoint the gamers who have played through Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 to see the ending. The fiasco created by the ending even caused the studio to release another ending, although the damage may be permanent.
Otherwise, even late in the development cycle in a game, there are important stages for the game to go through such as bug testing, so that any potential bugs or glitches may be fixed before release. This is important particularly in AAA titles such as GTA 5, where fans have a great deal of expectations about the realism and immersion of the game itself, which can be broken by an abundance of bugs. In this case, it may be better for the studio to delay the release date instead of releasing a mediocre, or even worse, an unfinished product. It is particularly worthwhile for Rockstar Games to take their time considering that GTA 5 is one of their most important titles; it is of paramount importance for them to preserve the quality of the game rather than rush any part of the game’s release.
Finally, there is indication that moving the release date of games later can actually boost sales. If the delaying of the release date can result in a better product, the game can sell both on release and from pre-orders as well down the road, if it becomes critically acclaimed as a quality AAA game. One of the breakout success stories in gaming this year was Bioshock Infinite, released by Irrational Games which had its release date moved to February 26, 2013 from October 16, 2012. However, the ending of the game was almost universally regarded as one of the best in AAA titles, and it is conceivable that more games will be sold because of the higher quality.
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30 Day Project – February

Life, Relationships

My 30 Day Project for February is to be able to do 100 push-ups in a single set.   The most common reaction when I talk about it?  “You’re nuts!”

Is it ambitious to the point of being aggressive?  You bet.   30 Day Projects aren’t supposed to be easy.   This is going to be a difficult painful month.

On the other hand, I have five fingers.   How many people do you know able to do 100 pushups?  I don’t know any.  In 4 weeks, I will know one.

What have I done to prepare?  Nada.  Nothing.  Zip.  Zilch.  I am starting this from scratch.

Here’s my plan:

At this moment, I can d0 20 pushups.  I am going to start with 5 sets of 2/3 of my max(14) with a one minute break in between sets .  That will happen in the morning and before bed.   Each session will involve more pushups.  I need to add about 3 to a set each day to get to 100 by the end of the month.

Now, it’s entirely possible that I won’t be able to manage 5 sets of 14, or that my progression is unmanageable.  That’s ok.  I refuse to test my endurance on this, and I’ve done no research.  I’m flexible and willing to adjust my plan to match reality.

Aggressive and painful.  Wish me luck.

Iggy Azalea – Ghost Writer or Artist? Will it affect her bottom line?

Celebrities

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Iggy Azalea. Some of it has to do with her appearance and some of it has to do with her lyrics. There have been rumors in the rap industry that Iggy uses a ghost writer.

Iggy Azalea 15/15
Iggy Azalea 15/15 (Photo credit: Pompey_1Love)

Specifically, the accusation that her mentor T.I. has ghost wrote many of her songs. But does it matter?

Many people in the rap industry have ghostwriters. Kanye West started out as a ghostwriter. He wrote lyrics and music for many big stars. Neo is another artist that started out as a ghostwriter. This shows that there it’s not unusual. Dr.Dre has spoken about hiring people to write his songs. Ghostwriting is very popular in the Hip Hop community. Many of the most popular artists got their start writing lyrics or music for other singers. The only time it enters into the conversation is when artists get into feuds.

The newest accusation against Iggy comes from fellow female rapper Nicki Minaj. Nicki won an award at the BET awards and when she was accepting the award she insinuated that Iggy does not write her own material. This is publicity and will only help both rappers. Nicki is the top female rapper and she is taking notice of Iggy. It’s common in the Hip Hop world for competitors to get into public arguments. This dates back to the old East Coat v.s. West Coast rap feud. The good thing about this controversy is that neither Nicki or Iggy are gangster rappers so there won’t be any violence. Some rappers like The Game and 50 Cent and Nas and Jay Z used these feuds to become superstars.

This sort of controversy won’t hurt Iggy Azelea. Take Beyonce as an example of a successful artist who uses ghostwriters. No one cares that Beyonce doesn’t write her own songs. All people care about is if the song is good. As long as Iggy and her producers keep choosing good songs and making good music, then she is going to sell records. Her feud with Nicki is only going to add to her popularity. This type of feud helped other rappers such as Nas, JayZ, Eminem, and 50 Cent.

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