JonCole

Oh, I thought that was the Wii U thread (the old thread title wasn't very clear). Man, I dunno.

Eh... the timer. Meh. I don't think it ever really hampered my game, I only ever ran out of time once or twice when I first played through it. That said, it did add a layer of stress that I wasn't accustomed to in a Zelda game. To me, Zelda is a lot about exploring so having it happen on the clock was disconcerting. Additionally, I wasn't too happy with the idea that to get certain non-essential yet desirable masks you'd have to perfectly coordinate a multi-day scheme. Nonetheless, I'm buying MM 3D so I guess it didn't bother me all that much.

Once again the Club Nintendo website is totally hammered by traffic, color me unsurprised. I'm currently thinking about getting Super Metroid (Wii U), Earthbound (Wii U), and Link's Awakening DX (3DS). That'd be 650 points IIRC, I can't remember exactly how many I have but if I'm short I might just buy a sufficiently coin-rewarding game on the eShop to make it work. I've never played Earthbound or Link's Awakening, so they both seem worth grabbing.

My Kindle says I'm 60% of the way through it so take this with a grain of salt, but I'd say the book focuses more on the author's philosophy rather than the practicality of her method. As someone who is generally pretty logical and unemotional, it's an odd book to read because the author frequently talks about spirituality hand in hand with practicality. Example - she suggests folding socks and shirts instead of rolling them up or some such thing, half because if you fold something like socks you're not going to be stretching the elastic as you would if you rolled them up. The other half of this practice is so that you touch the clothes for longer so you're pouring positive energy into them rather than just treating them roughly or hanging things up unnecessarily. I don't fully buy the energy and spirit stuff, but she does tend to refer back to utility often because I imagine that some of the Japanese spiritualism might wear after a while. I have gleaned a lot of storage and tidying methodology from reading it that I've already put into practice. Add to that the book being relatively short (I read that first 60% on a 2 hour flight) and I find it easy to recommend as long as you keep in mind that it's not 100% or even 50% practical. I don't mind that balance though, as it turns out the reason I've not thrown a lot of things away is emotional and not rational, like keeping old clothes that I'd never wear in public for sentimental reasons or keeping trinkets around that I've no use for that only take up space.

You have to register a Club Nintendo account and associate it to the console before you buy anything if you want to get credit. Once it's registered, then all eShop purchases show up automatically. Consoles can be registered for like 100-200 points. I'm kinda paralyzed by choice, but I don't have so so many points (like 600) so there's only so many options at hand. I think I'll go ahead and get Super Metroid since I'm almost 100% sure I was going to buy it anyways, but that disqualifies any retail Wii U or 3DS titles that I'd be interested in like Wonderful 101 or Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. Though at this point, the full titles that are up for grabs are generally budget offerings so I'm leaning towards getting what I want most over what is "worth" the most.

I've been reading this book about "tidying", which basically just means throwing away a bunch of shit so that you don't have enough stuff that storage is a problem. I'm not integrating the entire philosophy of the book into my personal practice, but it is interesting regarding things I own in an extremely personal light that lets me discard without too much impact on my conscience. Anyways, disposing of the clutter has really helped me clean up around the house as many more surfaces than usual are completely clear.

Man, I just love the curved edges of the Wii U discs. I feel like it should be a bullet point feature on the box.

Saw this in a Pinterest email - No more American food needs to be invented, this is the pinnacle. Crickets sound interesting. As long as I can throw some soy sauce on them and eat them with rice, they seem like a good idea.

Apparently Serperior is also up for grabs, and Samurott will be soon - http://kotaku.com/psa-remember-to-download-the-free-rare-pokemon-availab-1682767407 I haven't yet started ORAS, but I guess I'll at least get far enough in to do the mystery gifts. Just hit Dendemille Town in Pokemon Y, so it's not too ridiculously long until I get to it.

Much like how the potato wedge was invented by a chef who was too lazy to cut fries properly.

Potato ricer is easy to clean, which I feel I can say as I don't have a dishwasher and have no trouble. Also, can't beat a potato ricer when it comes to "performs as expected" as there is literally no way for lumps to get through it. No room for human or machine error unless the whole thing breaks altogether.

In other other sad news, former Shacknews/Weekend Confirmed guy Andrew Yoon died in a swimming accident. I only really knew him from the aforementioned activities, but apparently he was just getting into game dev with a completed but not yet released tabletop/card game and some video games in progress.

It's worth noting that if you buy their Amazon Coins microcurrency, you get a 10% discount over the top. So, 100 coins = $1 and if you buy a pack of 500 coins it costs $4.80. Not a bad deal if you frequently buy stuff from Amazon, which I do on my Android phone and Fire TV.

I asked this on the random thought gaming thread, but I figure I'll ask it here since it's the topic on hand - Does anyone on these forums play Guild Wars 2? If so, do you have any suggestions for a guild to join? My wife and I formed a guild when we first started playing for our friends, but most of them have dropped off the radar and we'd like to join one that potentially has some Thumbs or at least a good community.

Or a potato ricer -

All this potato talk has me craving, unfortunately my potato situation at home is weak. I have some frozen potatoes cut like fries, my plan is to chop them up into into little cubes/home fries and fry them up for breakfast tomorrow morning with some peppers, mushrooms, and cajun seasoning with eggs on top for a delicious hash. I'll report back!

I feel like this is basically the purpose of slip-on shoes. Unless I'm buying sneakers I'm almost certainly buying slip-ons because I'm an adult and I can be as lazy as I want to be. I wear these to work daily and they've been going for almost 2 years now with minimal maintenance - http://www.amazon.com/Merrell-Mens-World-Legend-Loafer/dp/B006PFQU26

I use the Merrell Ascend shoes, which they call "trail-running shoes" but to me just seem like regular sneakers. They do have the quite lightweight design that most modern running shoes have and I've found them suitable for general fitness activities, walking in urban areas, running on suburban streets and park trails, etc. Pretty well reviewed on Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Merrell-Ascend-Glove-Minimal-Running/dp/B00D7CHPI8#customerReviews

Makes me wish Alien did better, as that post cited it only sold 1 million. I don't know how that feels with respect to whatever their spend was on it, but 1 million isn't a high mark for anyone but indies nowadays. That said, I didn't buy it because I'm a horror game baby.

Gordon Ramsay does a mashed potato with carmelized turnip, so I kinda picked that up and now every time I make mashed potatoes I also make a sauteed/carmelized root veg like turnip, parsnip, beet, or carrots to serve with it. As a result I get a more varied bite with the creamy potatoes and the crunchy root that often also adds a sweet or spicy contrast.

Also Miiverse stuff, I think.

He said he's also not made instant potatoes, for whatever that's worth. Since that panel, he said that he mentioned it to his dad who has also apparently not every made any mashed potatoes before and he's in his sixties if memory serves. I don't think its some great offense, it's just... weird.

Count me in on the wanting to play Super Metroid thing. Kinda considering doing a Metroid marathon since I also bought Metroid Trilogy today for the Wii U.

I absolutely love Merell. They're generally true to fit, so I can order them online and get what I expect (never ordered one that didn't fit right). Also, they tend to have more generous width which is good for my feet that fall somewhere between normal width and shoes designated as wides. I currently have a pair of leather slip-on shoes that I wear for work and a pair of sneakers, both of which I've had going on two years. Kinda considering replacing the leather shoes, only because I wear them more than half the days of every week ever. My second pair of work shoes are Dockers, which I've also quite enjoyed. It's amazing what well fitting, quality shoes can do to make you feel comfortable. Sometimes I go home and don't take off my shoes for an hour or so because I don't give it any thought, whereas I'd usually want to rip off my shoes at the very first opportunity.

He has had mashed potatoes, he claims that the ones at KFC are so good that it's not worth making your own so that's why he's never made them before. Or in other words and to clarify, he said that he's never made mashed potatoes ("he's never mashed potatoes").