Month: February 2009

New skates! – 4/365

Posted on by Duncan Toms

I bought these Nike Bauer ONE05 in the post-Xmas sales but didn’t get chance to use them until this evening.

This was my third time skating this time round. Before that, not since the early 90s, and before that, as a teenager.

Well, I’m probably as good as I ever was, and the new skates really help. More precision in the ice and a much greater sense of control. The rental skates at Basingstoke ‘Planet Ice’ really are shite.

It took a little getting used to on the sharp blades and hockey style. No notchy bits at the front of the blade to help when standing still. But so fast, smooth, and by the end I was attempting some backwardsness and trying skating forward without moving the skates much, just the hips.

We go every other week, so my progress will be slow. But it’s not about progress for me, more the sheer delight in gliding.

Winter Tree with Moon – 1/365

Posted on by Duncan Toms

Winter Tree with Moon, originally uploaded by :Duncan.

I am attempting to take at least one photo per day for inclusion in two Flickr Groups of daily photos. This is a little challenge to get me using my camera a bit more and results in closer attention to the world around me, even if it’s things and places I see every day.

I went for a walk around Brockwood Park at sunset, looking at the end of the snow, the remains of snow walls, balls, men and carpets, then came across this silhouette framing the moon.

Yahtzee Adventures

Posted on by Duncan Toms

Yahtzee has long been my favourite board game. We used to play it at Gran & Grandpas house and held off buying our own set for at home in case we spoilt the novelty.

Last week I bought Yahtzee Adventures for my iPod Touch. Only £1.79. I pretty soon completed the Adventure and then set to completing the Challenges listed in the Extras menu. A lot were already finished during the Adventure. Classic Master finished shortly after. Colour Juggler was helped by a double Yahtzee game. The tricky ones are the last two:

Fine Strategist: Win A 100 pts Battle. I.e. have all your points left at the end. This took quite a few attempts. To win, select only one opponent. Hit them hard first round with a high straight, or good four of a kind (or of course, a Yahtzee). The AI will then spend too much time defending itself by building up points rather than taking yours. If it does attack, it should be easy enough to get your points back to 100 by the time its over.

Minimalist: Score 5 In A Game. Easy, I thought. Just score 2 on my 2s and 3 on my 3s and zero everywhere else. Wrong. Oh, it needs to be a Yahtzee of 1s. But what about Chance? So, to win, you need to score zero on everything and 5 on Chance. That’s a Yahtzee of 1s. At first I thought I couldn’t be bothered, but of course you can try for 1s in every round. Believe it or not, when down to just the Chance left, on my first attempt, I got it. Yahtzee!

I am not sure I will play it anymore, with all the Challenges done. The characters are annoying, not offering any advice but spouting truisms, while delaying the play. But it’s very well made and enjoyable for a few days, and the game itself remains great.