Kraellin

Hello Kraellin,

Boy was unique and a good friend.

You're always welcome to visit Kraellin. You know ETW will be released soon?

Atlanta has a bit warmer climate, doesn't it? That might be better for your parents, are they both doing well?

Having work to do is always good. Also big branches too for the chainsaw or just those tiny ones?

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Kraellin wrote: and this last one was retouched a bit; mostly to add some brightness and contrast.

That is a great shot Craig #4 and the last one would look great on a poster or something
Its always amazing that something that looks so beautiful causes so much damage....

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Its always amazing that something that looks so beautiful causes so much damage....

i felt that way many, many times while walking around taking these pics, CF. it was a total fantasyland, while at the same time being a small hell on earth.

and thanks i've printed some of these out. putting them to poster would be interesting, or maybe putting them to canvas.

empire, total war. hmmm, naval battles... i might have to get that one that's something no one has really done well, the age of sail naval battles.

hehehe, tosa, EVERYONE has so much 'firewood' now, you cant give it away

thanks. it's nice to have friends in high places

a new job? ya know, i'm not sure i ever knew what your old job was. care to come cut firewood?

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trying to avoid doing stupid things (at times).

heh, that's a full time job for me

have they put any date on ETW being released yet? and, do the devs still show up at the Org at all?

hi tosa,

yes, the farm house has a fireplace and dad always used to have a fire going in the winter. so, i'll be stacking wood... for a long while to come i took some pictures yesterday of some of the wood lying around, but i havent unloaded them to the computer yet. maybe later today.

makes lots of mistakes and willing to cut firewood... sounds like you'd make a good farmer

shipped tomorrow... hmmm, was going to go to town today, but maybe i'll wait now

hi tosa, my old friend

a new job? what is it and are you happy with it?

i'm fine, thanks. just trying to get the body working right again

how you doing?

how's the Org?

hi tosa,

wastewater treatment devices... the Org... you just cant stay out of the sh*t, can you ok, that was pretty bad. glad you're doing well

yes, i had a 'mild' stroke march, 2008, or at least, i think that's what it was. i got pretty weak one night and nearly collapsed and a bit of trouble breathing. my legs felt like they were half asleep and wouldnt wake up and anything i ate tasted really odd. my digestion was way off, also. so, after about 40 years of smoking, that was it; i gave it up. i had aleady been preparing to do this as i knew it was slowly killing me, so this was 'the final stroke'. lol. bad pun. so, i havent had a cigarette since. i'm slowly getting better. my legs are still sort of half asleep, though i can walk. i'm not bedridden or anything. my digestion is still a bit off and i'm still somewhat weak, or at least weaker than i used to be. i do still work, however. so, i'm ok, relatively speaking

we had a big ice storm back in the winter. ice was covering everything. it was literally about a half inch thick. this created so much weight on the trees that a lot of them lost branches and did a lot of damage. those branches falling, plus the weight of the ice on power lines caused a lot of lines to break. thus, we were without power for about two weeks. with my health already suffering and not really being able to take care of the folks very well, we moved them out to stay with other family that werent affected by the storm. and, finally, we just moved them out permanently. so, i'm running the farm now. we rented out the ground to others. i'm just doing the maintenance and paying the bills and am somewhat retired. we moved the folks in with my oldest brother and they're doing pretty well, especially at 94 and 87; mother will be 88 this month

yes, i've never quite understood how you managed to stand all the screaming... uhm... people at the Org all these years. i would have shot several by now, let alone ban them but yes, there are some very good folks there as well

with all the graphics work i've been doing, photo art mostly, i've gotten back into photography, also. i've always owned cameras all my life, so i took a small plunge into the digital realm. it's just a little kodak that i wear on my belt so i have it everywhere i go. but, it takes a decent picture and they pack a lot of features into these small little packages. but, i'm probably going to get a better one. this is only 5x optical zoom and 8 megapixels. i've been eyeing some 24x at 12 megapixel, and these arent slr's. i dont really want an slr now. i'd spend too much money and have too many gadgets to carry around. i just want something i can wear on my belt and take out and snap something any time i see something interesting. but, for now, the little kodak works pretty well, takes decent pictures and is quite compact.

i also bought a 12 string guitar the other day. i used to play (sort of) way back in high school. i hadnt played for years and i've having to relearn a lot and build up the calluses on my fingers again but, i'm enjoying it.

i also bought some TW games. i even installed one of them, though i havent played it that much. Empire: Total War was the one i installed. i hated the whole 'Steam' thing and almost uninstalled it just because of that, but i did try out the game and it played pretty well, but i got bored with it pretty quickly. so, havent played it any in a while now.

so, i'm alive and mostly well. and i'm glad you came and looked me up. i tend to get into hermit mode at times and always good to see old friends

tosa,

i do hope my bad joke wasnt offensive. of course we need waste treatment. we couldnt live without it. so, i do hope i wasnt being belittling. i certainly didnt mean to be.

excellent! i was worried there for a bit. i write a book and tosa writes 3 lines? hmmm... sometimes hard to tell when not face to face

ok, i can go back into hibernation now knowing all is well

hehe, well, i'm sort of a permanent hermit out here. the folks are gone, i'm not married and no kids. so, hermit mode is my norm

no, never saw a doctor after the 'stroke'. i'm afraid i dont have a lot of respect for an industry whose two main 'cures' are 'throw a pill at it' and 'cut it out with surgery'. besides, what was he going to do besides tell me i'd had a stroke and charge me $10,000 for telling me. lol.

yes, i remember the whole 'kahn' fiasco. that type of person can always just kiss my ... grits. lol. it's always surprised me a bit that you held your position at the Org. i probably would have just folded up shop and walked away. but, i'm glad you didnt

yep, digital is here to stay. well, unless we blow up the planet or something nearly as stupid. i find them just so much more convenient. i never got into darkroom developing when younger, so having something i can just download into a computer and then print out on my printer is really quite marvelous. and, i can tweak it in paint shop pro or photoshop if i want, too. it just really suits me much better. and you speaking to the pro photographer is quite similar to my view of digital. i realized years ago that with computers, we could link everything, analog or digital, into one big communications system. television, radio, stereo, amplifier, vcr (dvd's didnt exist yet), and basically anything that could produce an analog or digital signal. with the computer as the central appliance, all of that would be interchangable and extremely versatile. lol. it still hasnt completely happened. i guess we're both ahead of our times

lol on the guitar. i bought a decent one. acoustic, 12 string. i can only play for a short while until i build the calluses back up on my fingers

30 gigs of TW? oh my. well, ya know, i'd have been perfectly happy had CA just fixed Shogun. why is it that companies like that never fix what the customer is begging for. microsoft does this on a regular basis, though they've gotten a touch better with the service packs. if i operated that way i'd never get anything completely done and never be happy with myself. ah well, maybe when uberzev (one of the authors here) rules the world, he'll give me CA and microsoft to play with

so, what are your interests outside of TW, the Org and all that? what are your hobbies and likes? oh, and if you have a new dog, post a pic

your cookie got eaten? bummer!

hi tosa,

yes, i've always had mixed feelings on the medical industry, especially the pharmaceutical side of it. and i've gotten quite cynical about it of late. it seems like you either cut it out or throw a pill at it and that just doesnt amount to 'healing' to me. yes, i know, they can set bones and do some things quite well, but in general, i dont want to go to a hospital if i'm ill or broken; i'm afraid i'll come back drugged out of my mind or with only half a body

so, not walking away ... the dutch started that? must be from having to protect the land from all that ocean that does that. just too stubborn to drown

yeah, i'm the same way on pets at the moment. i go away on trips often enough that i'd feel bad leaving an animal alone and too annoyed to take it with me. but, i do miss having a cat or a dog.

btw, i'm now on FaceBook... Craig D. Walters . if you're on there, invite me as a friend and i'll do the same. i dont use instant messengers anymore, so email or facebook or here will reach me the fastest.