Relaxing Holidays

By Ben Wochinski on January 5, 2012

Since I’m so overdue for an update, I just wanted to toss up a quick post about my holiday break. It was a good long vacation too, as I managed to score ten days in a row off work.

A big portion of my time off was spent relaxing at my in-laws’ cabin in the woods. We got to have Christmas up there and also relax and watch a bit of wildlife. My daughter (just over 2yrs now!) really likes it up there, especially going for walks with her grandparents. I caught up on a little reading while there, getting through about a book each day.

After returning from the cabin I just spent time home with my family and played several of the new games I received for Christmas. I’ll go through my impressions another time, but suffice to say a good chunk of time was killed playing co-op with my brother in both Magicka and Portal 2.

New Year’s Eve was no big event, as per usual. No big resolutions this year, we just filled the last days of my vacation alternately with working on small projects around the house and just relaxing and playing. It was some really great time off and I was absolutely loathe to go back in to work tonight.

Now that things are on track to return to normal I hope to (again) be updating just a little more regularly. I also hope to soon be able to talk a little more about the game I’ve been working on for the past month. Until future updates, happy gaming!

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Back from Vacation and Catching up on Minecraft

By Ben Wochinski on September 29, 2011

Hello readers one and all, I have returned. Now that I’m back from my lovely 10 days of vacation I will try to return to my regularly irregular posting schedule.

On vacation my wife, daughter, and I flew on down to Florida for a visit to Disney World! My daughter is just about to turn 2 years old, and she loved almost everything. Anytime we came upon a costumed character she would just run up to them and give them a big hug. It was really cute and we got a bunch of really good pictures and video as well. The time in Disney World wasn’t super relaxing, however, due to the little one wanting to run off for something at every opportunity.

As I was exhausted when we got back I’ve spent the last two days just chilling out with my family and playing a whole bunch of Minecraft. I only had the opportunity to play for about an hour or two before leaving on vacation, so it was good to get some serious uninterrupted play in. Overall, I’m absolutely loving the new play style for 1.8. Hunger isn’t an issue after the first day or so and it really has helped me out a lot. I find I die much less often than before, and fall damage is now laughable in most cases since I’ll have regenerated before I even notice how much I was hurt.

For now I’ve got to plunge back into the work week, but very soon I need to get numerous things posted here on the blog. Firstly I’ve promised several people that I’ll upload the old map from the server. Second, I need to get a rendering of the new map posted, I’m really curious to see how it will look with the distances that most of us have spread out. And finally some screenshots of my constructions are on their way, since I’ve been trying to at least take a shot here and there as I go.

Who knows, might be that we get another chunk of the Adventure update in 1.9 this week as well! Until further posts, Happy Crafting!

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Minecon tickets officially on sale!

By Ben Wochinski on August 12, 2011

As of today the official site for Minecon in Las Vegas has gone live! You can check out the site to get a few small details about what will be happening, as well as purchase tickets and book a room under a special Minecon rate! The main events will be taking place at the Mandalay Bay Resort, which looks pretty swanky. Even their basic rooms are mini-suites.

I’ve been waiting for details about Minecon, and getting more excited it since it was first announced! Now comes the part where I have to figure out if I’m actually going to be able to make it out there. I can’t say I’m optimistic about that, since we’re going on a family vacation in about a month, and we’ll have additional expenses to go with that. I am really looking forward to the family vacation though, as we’re going to Disney World!

Perhaps I’ll have a sudden windfall of cash…  Hey, it’s happened.

Happy Minecon-ing!

 

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Returned from Vacation, Feeling Dwarfy

By Ben Wochinski on August 4, 2011

Over the last extended weekend I was away on vacation, part family, part just my Wife and I. We went up to the Wisconsin Dells and had some fun and relaxing time at the water parks there. A good time and nice to do some relaxing, but I’m certainly glad to be back in my own bed!

Shortly before leaving, and now that I’ve returned, my eye has once again been caught by Dwarf Fortress. The large amount of coverage in the NYT magazine helped get me back into it a bit. If anyone is aware of my first fortress, Fatallash, it still exists. I haven’t played it anymore since the last goblin siege I posted about, but for a few minutes the other day just to see how it was holding up. The Dwarfs are quite hardy and haven’t given up. In fact, it appears that everyone has emerged from their horrible depression and the fortress can get back on track!

The current state of the entrance to Fatallash. I have a lot of extra clothing from deceased dwarfs.

Aside from Fatallash I started up a new fortress recently, (which I cannot currently recall the name of) to allow me to correct a few of my oversights in the first fortress design. One thing I still messed up was the embark location. I didn’t think about my wanting to mess with water and such, so I didn’t choose a site with a river. It also seems I may have chosen too peaceful a location, as my fortress has already surpassed a population of 170 dwarfs and been declared a barony. In all that time, not a single attack, not even a snatcher, has threatened the fortress. I do have plans to rectify that problem, as I’ve begun digging much further downward. Still, I’m about 50 levels below the surface and still haven’t found a cavern.

Now that I’m back onto my more regular schedule I really need to get myself back into the habit of posting more often! I know I’ve been neglecting Minecraft a bit, but I must go where the brain takes me! I’ll be back with more gaming randomness soon.

Happy Crafting!

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Happy 4th of July!

By Ben Wochinski on July 4, 2011

Just wanted to post to wish everyone a happy 4th of July! I’ve been on vacation for the last few days and will return home tomorrow. Wish that work could just hold off for a few more days, but it comes inevitably closer.

I also managed to scrounge up an invite to Google+ from a friend so I’ve been messing with that a little. I feel like I’m missing a lot of it by only having the mobile version right now though. It will be interesting to get to really explore the power of the full site soon.

I hope everyone had a good weekend and got some relaxing in.

Happy Crafting!

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