Manning-Bowman

When I was a kid my grandmother used to make us waffles in this really cool old electric waffle maker. It was round and double sided; you could make two waffles in it at once, by flipping it.

I've always wanted a waffle-maker like that. But they're not being made any more, and I had no idea where to start.

Out of the blue this weekend my mother mentioned that it was a Manning-Bowman. That was all I needed to track it down. I found several on eBay for less than $100.

Interesting; I didn't realize that it was art deco. I also hadn't known that Manning-Bowman predated the idea of planned obsolescence. Apparently their workers were proud that their appliances could last for 25 years or longer...I wish that sort of ethic existed today. And it explains why so many are available for sale today.

One of these days when I have some extra cash (some day), I'm going to buy one of those waffle makers...and give it to my mother, so that Sebastian can get great waffles from his grandmother, too.

Manning-Bowman

When I was a kid my grandmother used to make us waffles in this really cool old electric waffle maker. It was round and double sided; you could make two waffles in it at once, by flipping it.

I've always wanted a waffle-maker like that. But they're not being made any more, and I had no idea where to start.

Out of the blue this weekend my mother mentioned that it was a Manning-Bowman. That was all I needed to track it down. I found several on eBay for less than $100.

Interesting; I didn't realize that it was art deco. I also hadn't known that Manning-Bowman predated the idea of planned obsolescence. Apparently their workers were proud that their appliances could last for 25 years or longer...I wish that sort of ethic existed today. And it explains why so many are available for sale today.

One of these days when I have some extra cash (some day), I'm going to buy one of those waffle makers...and give it to my mother, so that Sebastian can get great waffles from his grandmother, too.

Adventures on Battle.net

I got a bit bored with single-player Diablo 2, so I decided to start new characters on Battle.net. The first was a sorceress named Slaytheist; I accidentally made her a ladder character, whatever that means. Since I fear that Battle.net is swarming with PKs, I only played her in password-protected games by myself. It didn't take too long to get her up to 16th level.

But it was boring.

So I made a new character, a Paladin named Macabee, specifically to play in open worlds. And sure enough, people came. The spoke the crude patois of the web generation - "thks", "tp", etc. - but at least they didn't kill me.

On the other hand they all seemed to be in a huge rush. They dashed across the screens as if, well, Diablo was after them. They didn't even bother to pick up magic items! It was very confusing.

I was having fun, though, until Teri called. It was Sebastian's bedtime, and he wanted me to tuck him into his new big boy bed. I did, but by the time I got back all the people had left the game.

Maybe I wasn't playing right. I'm used to solo play, so my tendency is to seek out certain types of foes and kill them first, leaving the less-dangerous enemies until later. Shamans, for example, are high on my list of targets because they resurrect other enemies. And I'm not all that comfortable with Paladin auras yet; sometimes I cycled between different auras rather quickly.

Maybe I should have been protecting the spellcasters, although none died that I could see. Maybe I went too slow. Maybe I should have used the auras more wisely, somehow. I don't know.

I think I'll try it again, though. I'm kind of looking forward to it.

Adventures on Battle.net

I got a bit bored with single-player Diablo 2, so I decided to start new characters on Battle.net. The first was a sorceress named Slaytheist; I accidentally made her a ladder character, whatever that means. Since I fear that Battle.net is swarming with PKs, I only played her in password-protected games by myself. It didn't take too long to get her up to 16th level.

But it was boring.

So I made a new character, a Paladin named Macabee, specifically to play in open worlds. And sure enough, people came. The spoke the crude patois of the web generation - "thks", "tp", etc. - but at least they didn't kill me.

On the other hand they all seemed to be in a huge rush. They dashed across the screens as if, well, Diablo was after them. They didn't even bother to pick up magic items! It was very confusing.

I was having fun, though, until Teri called. It was Sebastian's bedtime, and he wanted me to tuck him into his new big boy bed. I did, but by the time I got back all the people had left the game.

Maybe I wasn't playing right. I'm used to solo play, so my tendency is to seek out certain types of foes and kill them first, leaving the less-dangerous enemies until later. Shamans, for example, are high on my list of targets because they resurrect other enemies. And I'm not all that comfortable with Paladin auras yet; sometimes I cycled between different auras rather quickly.

Maybe I should have been protecting the spellcasters, although none died that I could see. Maybe I went too slow. Maybe I should have used the auras more wisely, somehow. I don't know.

I think I'll try it again, though. I'm kind of looking forward to it.

Diablo Galaxy?

Just noticed something funny. From the description of the Paladin Blessed Hammer skill:

"The Visions of Akarat tell of a hopeless battle. Legions of the undead had laid siege to a small convent of nuns who were the keepers of a sacred relic, the Hammer of Ghrab Thaar."

Does something sound familiar? Remind you of a movie, perhaps? Then please envision Alan Rickman with fish-head makeup on:

"By Grabthaar's Hammer...what a savings."

So which came first - Diablo 2, or GalaxyQuest?

Diablo Galaxy?

Just noticed something funny. From the description of the Paladin Blessed Hammer skill:

"The Visions of Akarat tell of a hopeless battle. Legions of the undead had laid siege to a small convent of nuns who were the keepers of a sacred relic, the Hammer of Ghrab Thaar."

Does something sound familiar? Remind you of a movie, perhaps? Then please envision Alan Rickman with fish-head makeup on:

"By Grabthaar's Hammer...what a savings."

So which came first - Diablo 2, or GalaxyQuest?