I’m on my way to WordCamp US today, and I’m flying out of Terminal 2 for the first time in over ten years. I hardly recognize it; it’s been significantly built-up at some point.
I had a vague memory that I’d taken some pictures the last time I was here, and I was correct! A quick run through my stuff on Flickr gave me these images from 2007:
Compare those to these pics I snapped today. The Vino Volo location is where that blank wall in the last shot used to be.
It’s really quite impressive. The whole thing is brighter, cleaner, and significantly busier than I recall it being.
Some assorted patches from various support teams at Automattic, and some die-cut stickers from StickerMule with my stream logo.
(in the top zipper pouch) A pair of Etymotic Research MC5 in-ear headphones for quick use. The current equivalent models are the MK5, which seem to be out of stock everywhere right now.
A fidget spinner and jar of Carmex.
On the back of the pack, I attach an Orca Tactical Horizontal Admin Pouch to hold odds and ends like cough drops, ibuprofen, pens, and a USB wall-wart.
Now, inside the Tacti-Tech organizer:
I just picked up this pouch recently, and so far, other than the fact that it doesn’t include its own MOLLE straps, I love it. In here:
An OEM Super Nintendo controller, because I don’t have an 8bitdo SN30 yet, which I’d use for most casual play.
An AverMedia LiveGamer Portable 2. It’s getting a shakedown this weekend; haven’t used it yet. Won it in the staff raffle at last year’s Combo Breaker.
Various cables: one Apple Watch charger, one Lightning-to-USB cable, one Lightning-to-USB-C cable, a mini-USB charge cable, a USB 3DS charging cable, two USB-C to USB converter dongles, a 64GB SD card for the Super NT, and a USB key attached to this Tuxedo Mask lanyard. (I always bring my own lanyards to tech conferences, tournaments, and meetups because I like adding a personal touch.)
All told, the pack is moderately heavy, but it’s workable. I put my Kindle Paperwhite in the slash pocket on the front:
It doesn’t feel over-stuffed and I can just carry it with me during travel and not have to worry about anything. The only other thing I’m bringing is a light jacket, and that’s easily worn everywhere or waist-tied to keep it on my person. (That jacket is my original N7 hoodie from the Bioware Store, which is still the most comfortable light jacket I have ever worn.)
Well, this one didn’t exactly go as planned, we’ll say.
A few hours into my stream to raise money for Extra Life, there was a rather loud noise in my home. Some brief investigation from my children didn’t turn up anything, but a few hours later, it was revealed to me what had happened.
My wife had rolled her ankle on the stairs and it was clearly injured—it’d swollen up to about the size of an orange.
My good friend Ken was kind enough to take her to the hospital, as she’d told me she didn’t want us to end the stream. I went on to stream with four of my children, as she waited six hours or so for attention in the emergency department.
(You should understand that my wife does all of the social media work when I do charity streaming. She really enjoys it and she loves supporting the charity. For her to stop doing so meant she was most definitely hurt.)
Turns out she broke her ankle, and she’ll need to get a cast a bit later this week. So instead of staying up all night playing video games, I’m staying up most of the night making sure she can keep weight off the injured foot. Life took precedence.
Sure, it’s not what we expected, but that’s perfectly OK. I’m happy to help my wife—she’s not normally one to sit still or not do much, and it turns out that’s exactly what she needs to do right now. And at the hospital, they did give her this pretty rad award:
She got a gold star. :)
To everyone who either watched, donated, or both: thank you so much for supporting my stream for Extra Life this year. This won’t be the last one; I’ll be announcing further streams to benefit the charity, and you can make sure you know about them by following me on Twitch or Twitter.
Because the schedule was shortened, not all raffle prizes will end up being claimed. I’ll message the winners after this weekend is over when I get a minute to sit down and figure out who donated when. (There were only a handful of donations by the time we had to stop the stream.)
It may no longer make you eligible for a prize, but if you would still like to support my Extra Life fundraising efforts, please consider dropping by my donation page and giving what you can. All of the money goes to help children’s hospitals in the St. Louis metro area, and I know they will appreciate every dollar.
I look forward to streaming more often in coming days. I sincerely hope you’ll tune in.
Extra Life is a fundraising program that benefits Children’s Miracle Network hospitals in many cities. Every year, they designate one day to be a 24-hour focus for these fundraising efforts, and participants are encouraged to livestream their games.
I’ll be doing so this year for the sixth year this upcoming Saturday, November 3rd. I’d like to invite you and many others to participate in this with me and support my fundraising efforts. Every dime raised is used for direct benefit to children’s hospitals in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
After a couple of years of being too optimistic with my goal, this year I’m making it more achievable. I’d like to raise $1,000 for these hospitals, and I’m going to need your help to do it. You can track how close we are right here:
I’ll be playing a mix of games from various consoles and eras, and for some content blocks, will be joined by family and friends. Please consider joining us and helping us raise money for charity!
How Can I Help?
The best way you can help is by making a donation directly to my fundraising effort. You can make your payment using a variety of methods here. All donations are fully tax-deductible, and all funds are given directly to the hospitals.
It’s also really helpful to me if you watch the stream on my Twitch channel or by using the player embedded above. More people watching helps people find my channel and can bring more interest to my fundraising stream—which can lead to more donations. You can also chat with me live using the chat box, but you’ll need a Twitch account to do so. If you have one or sign up for one, please chat a bit! I love interacting with viewers and talking with you about what’s going on.
I’d much rather you made a donation to the campaign itself, but if you want to donate something like a meal for me and my stream helpers or something to benefit stream quality (I’m in need of NodeCG help), please reach out to me directly. (These donations will *not* be tax-deductible.)
Some rules and disclosures regarding raffle prizes:
Donors are eligible for raffles by donating a minimum of $10 during the block for which a prize is offered. All raffles will be conducted off-stream after the event has concluded.
Raffle prize winners will be contacted via email.
Raffle prizes are subject to change or removal prior to the start of the event.
Prize winners located outside North America may be offered prize substitutions of equal value, depending on shipping or customs costs required.
Prize winners who do not wish to share their address for prize delivery purposes will be offered an alternate prize selection at the event’s discretion.
Family members of the streamer (me) and/or those people appearing on-camera during the event will not be eligible for prizes.
Donations prior to the start of the event will be eligible for the first prize in the schedule.
Any prizes that are unclaimed will be re-raffled to another donor from the same time block, or if no donors remain, the money for purchasing those prizes will be returned to the prizing sponsor.
A couple of things I love are going to join forces in a Twitch stream this upcoming Tuesday, starting around noon Central time and extending until Whenever I Feel Like Stopping:
With Extra Life weekend coming up in a few months, I thought it a good idea to do some early fundraising and get the ball rolling
Destiny 2: Forsaken launches around that time and I’ve taken some time off to play through it right away with my son, live on stream
I would love it if you would stop by and support the stream! Load it up, hang out, chat a bit, and if you feel generous, donate to my Extra Life campaign for this year. All proceeds donated via my Extra Life page go directly to local children’s hospitals and are tax-deductible.
Watch us run through the story of Destiny 2: Forsaken, experience the new Gambit game mode new to the franchise, or just stop by and chat neat-o Destiny stuff with us while we explore!
If you can’t attend directly, if you would tell your friends and families we’re doing such a thing, it would be greatly appreciated. More eyes on what we are doing means more possible donations to help sick kids in the St. Louis area.
Fair warning: this post is going to be pretty personal, and if you don’t care about my struggles with my weight and food, then you should probably just skip it and move on to the next post.
In fact, I’ll add a cut link here to encourage it unless you really do care about me, in which case, please proceed.
(You’ll just need to grab that link until I can work on a better Twitch embed handler, I guess. The one I have right now doesn’t support Clips.)
If you want to potentially see more moments like this one, consider visiting my Twitch channel and following it. I try to stream at least a few times a week, and play various types of games depending on what I’m working on at the time.
I was thinking “hey, what if I bought a yukata to wear to the Japanese festival this year at the Botanical Gardens” and then my brain went “is this the first step down the dark path that leads to becoming Steven Seagal”
We took the family to the Missouri Botanical Gardens this evening for the yearly Garden Glow, where the front half of the grounds is lit up with various Christmas light displays.
I took a host of pics with my phone and didn’t do any editing on them—just posting them up now because if I wait much longer, I won’t make the post. :)
If you are in the St. Louis area, I highly recommend the walk; it’s quite nice and it’s very different being in the gardens at night, which you normally cannot do.
