[Balanced review of Fallout 76]

I have gotten back into videogaming a bit, and picked up Fallout 76.  I've enjoyed it in it's current state.  I'm on PC, Docwagon1776, if you happen to see me around.  I'm not a terribly social player, usually just do my own thing, but if it's someone from here I'd certainly be willing to catch up.

 

The Atlantic City expeditions are more enjoyable than the Pitt ones, I think.  The Pitt got boring for me in the scavenger hunt stuff where if you didn't know the possible spawns you just spent forever looking for things once you'd killed all the enemies. 

[Not really enjoying Civ 6]

New leaders were recently added, if you have the anthology pack you get them all for free as well.  I've started a game as Abraham Lincoln, who seems pretty well set up for domination victories.

[California trip]

On 12/2/2022 at 8:25 AM, cyberninja2601 said:

 

Death valley is amazing. We love hiking there . The trails at the top of your post oddly look familiar. 

 

Did you run into some of those wild burro that are all over the place? 

 

We did, in Beatty they were walking through while we were getting tacos from the taco truck.

[Travel time again - London and Lisbon]

Portugal was a blast.   Being there at Christmas time was a lot of fun with all the little holiday markets and fairs.  If you have Discord and are interested in pictures, see:

 

https://discord.gg/gdANcvFJ

 

TAP airline was pretty nice.  Clean, relatively roomy, friendly staff.  Food wasn't that great, but that's the general rule on airplanes so no surprise there.  We flew Economy there and got an upgrade to Premium Economy on the way back.

 

We ended up seeing Lisbon, Evora, and Sintra on this trip.  We'll definitely return to see more.

[Travel time again - London and Lisbon]

Landed safely.  Full of cod, beer,  and custard tarts.   Good start...

[California trip]

We went out to California again, visiting the in-laws in Anaheim and taking the opportunity to go back to Death Valley and the Mojave Preserve. We didn't get to do everything I'd hoped due to flood damage closing some roads and trails, but we did get to see things we hadn't done last time. I couldn't sneak my Power Wagon into checked bags so I made due with a rental Ram Classic 1500 4x4. Only one hill was a little sketchy, it did everything else without drama, though I did get a little nervous on one section of softer sand. My wife wanted to stop for a photo but I was afraid we wouldn't be able to get going again if I lost momentum and I didn't want to rely on random Jeep Bros to help us out, though I'm sure they would have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those are all from Death Valley. Temps were in the 60s most of the day, colder at higher elevations and warmer at lower elevation, so we did a lot more hiking the canyons and trails then last time. We stayed in the park again, but this time at The Ranch at Death Valley. Nice hotel, terrible restaurant. Avoid. Drive to Beatty NV or at least to Stovepipe Well village in the park, much better food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Various places in the Mojave Preserve, including the Lava Tubes, which was the main goal for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These photos were taken on the trail network behind my BIL's house. At least 18 miles of trails that start about 2 blocks from his back door.  I think the last rock formation looks like a mummy, but some have said nun or mermaid when I showed it to them.

I have a ton of other photos, but many are too big for my free host to accept and share. We went to Huntington Beach and climbed around on the rocks, found tidal pools with sea urchins and other little sea creatures living in them, went to the Santa Monica pier, and several other little day trips. I have to say I've rarely met anyone as nice and nobody more generous as my BIL that we stayed with. He's the one who donated 2/3 of his liver in a futile attempt to save SIL's life. Just a genuinely incredible guy and we got along great the entire stay. MIL was still there and of course that was great. I met two more BILs I hadn't met before, but work schedules and distance kept us from spending a lot of time together.

All in all, a really great trip.

[What car do you have?]

I bought a new truck.  I've had the same Ram since 2012, but gave it to my son.  So now I have a 2021 Ram 2500 Power Wagon.  I wanted something to off-road with and the PW is, IMO, the top of the line full sized truck for the sort of off road trails I have access to.  I wanted to order a 2023, but order banks are closed and once they reopen it will still be an estimated 6-9 month wait to get one.  I decided to go used instead and focused on the 2021 for the 75th anniversary package, which has a unique 2 tone interior that isn't available in any other Power Wagon.  This thing is absolute tits for everything but fuel economy.

 

I'm ditching the steps for actual rock sliders, which I've already ordered.  Also need a bed cover, but otherwise don't intend any additions or modifications until it needs tires and I go to 35".

 

PW comes factory with front and rear axle lockers, front sway bar disconnect, and is a 2500 (so heavy duty frame, axles, running gear) but sprung light closer to a 1500 for better ride and offroad flex.  The 75th anniversary adds a ton of luxury features.  Heated/cooled leather seats (mountain brown over black), 360 camera with tire paths, adaptive headlights (the lenses make the headlight beam sweep with the steering wheel so you're always in the 'sweet spot' and it's amazing), etc.  This one has the sunroof and every option but the safety group (didn't want) and ram boxes (didn't care one way or the other).  I bought it with 8107 miles on it and in pristine condition.

[Travel time again - London and Lisbon]

Just about time to head out.  Flying on Monday.

 

[Travel time again - London and Lisbon]

On 9/22/2022 at 6:38 AM, GazzaGarratt said:

 

Let us know if you think its on the agenda again. Or even if we do the next big FG meet up that you can travel for that...😎👍

 

Will do.  We'll probably be traveling more often since we don't have to work around my son's school schedule any more (he graduated and is likely off to the US Coast Guard early next year) and I'm making more money thanks to promotion and overtime availability.

[Travel time again - London and Lisbon]

We ended up getting direct flights by bumping our date up to Nov 28, so no London this go round.  I'm sure we'll be back through before too long, though.  This will be our first time flying with TAP, not sure what to expect.

[Travel time again - London and Lisbon]

On 9/15/2022 at 10:57 AM, GazzaGarratt said:

@Docwagon , if its December then @phil bottle is spot on so maybe finding a nice place where the England fans will be would be truly an experience! Also, you must go to the Harry Potter Studios which isn't far from London at all. An unbelievable day out and nowhere else quite like it. Maybe watch some films and then come to see it for the full effect and experience?

 

Imo though, you should come around Noember 11th, specifically Wales. You know, so you can be with all the FGers meeting up for our biggest ever meet. 😎 But yeah, if you can't, I think @Plumbers Crack 's thought of catching is definitely worth mentioning when you've nailed down dates. 👍

 

We've already got travel booked in November, going to CA to visit my wife's family and then do our own thing.  My MIL is in from Jordan.  She spent 2 weeks with us last month and is now with my BIL, so we'll see her again while we are out there.  My MIL is awesome so I'm really looking forward to it.

[Travel time again - London and Lisbon]

Hello assorted FGers...

 

Come December, we (wife, son, and I) will be traveling abroad again.  The "dead time" between US Thanksgiving and Christmas is pretty cheap right now, and for under $1300 US in total the 3 of us can fly out of  Chicago, do a stayover in London, then on to Lisbon, then back to Chicago.  We're looking at 1-2 days on the ground in London/surrounding areas and 6-7 days on the ground in Portugal, unsure of exact plans for Lisbon the entirety or get to Porto or what.

 

I understand it'll be cool to cold during the trip, but I have a week of vacation I need to burn or lose and the pricing is tough to say no to.

 

I'd like to see Stonehenge while we're there.  We've done the Big Ben/Tower of London/Big Eye thing on a stayover before, but our son was too little to remember anything.  He's 17 now...fuck me time flies.  Trip advise for either destination in December?

[Endless Space 2?]

4X game I picked up in the Ukraine Humble Bundle.  Anyone tried it yet?  Seems rather complex at first glance, trying to get through the manual but tired and not braining good.

[Anyone using Garmin Connect?]

My 3 year old Fenix 5X Sapphire refused to power on and could not be reset by me or by the customer service rep over the phone.  She told me I was out of warranty so they couldn't repair it, but they would send me a replacement for free. I was floored. I expected to send it in for service at my expense or just be told it was now a brick and to buy a new one, I didn't ask for or even remotely expect a free replacement on an out of warranty *refurbished* watch that had a 90 day warranty originally.

 

I got my replacement in a few days and have used it on several walks/hikes/runs since and it works with no issue.

 

I'm pretty pleased with Garmin's customer service.

 

[My days as a real cop draw to an end...]

About a month ago I got word from the brass that I was presumptive 'next up' for any openings in Homicide, but no opening was expected for a few years.  NP, I'm fine parked where I am.  Thursday I got a call from the Homicide Captain asking if I'd be interested in Night LT spot, the current LT decided to retire abruptly. We haggled out hours and the like, and unless that LT backs out of his retirement at the last minute I'll most likely be taking over next month.  

 

I won't have my own office any longer, physically or literally.  There are four Homicide shifts (Day, Middle, Late Tac, and Late).  I'll have Late Tac and Late. Still have about the same number of detectives and 2 sergeants, though.  I share an office with the Day LT, but our hours don't overlap so it's more of a 'don't hang pictures on these two walls' sort of deal.  I still have a window.

 

I'm excited to get back to going to scenes, to having some more involvement in real police work, etc.

[What Are You Currently Reading?]

Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind 

 

This is not an easy read, but it's fascinating.  Essentially the concept of what a 'mind' is (distinct from what a brain is) and what that actually means, how it evolved, and how little we actually know about the subjective experience of non-humans. 

 

Same author as an earlier book, which I found to be more accessible:

 

Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness

 

[Not really enjoying Civ 6]

On 12/7/2021 at 8:32 PM, RenFengge said:

 

I hate that it's better with all the DLC. The only one I have turned off is "Rise and Fall"... but the others, I tend to leave on. I desperately miss the mechanics of Civ IV.

 

Have you tried Humankind? It's complex in its own ways. Some of what you see in Civ VI is "inspired"/"taken" from Endless Legend developed by Amplitude. So, some of the mechanics in Endless Legend are in Civ VI... and Amplitude's newest game Humankind.

 

Nah, I'll wait for price drops and fixes.  I've learned my lesson on early ins.

[Not really enjoying Civ 6]

Old thread, but I got all the content on black Friday.  Much better game with all the DLC.

[So You Wanna Be Rich?]

18 hours ago, IRaMPaGe said:

PYRAMID SCHEME! 

 

Only joking mate! Sounds like good returns and percentages and I'm pleased your doing well. The problem is you need some money to accumulate more. I couldn't afford setting aside anything. Just life in general is survival. I can only dream of having money leftover to set aside. 

 

One of the smartest things I ever read was from The Richest Man in Babylon.  "No matter what you make, somebody is getting by on 10% less.  Figure out how they do it and you can save 10% for retirement."

 

Maybe it's picking up a part time job, maybe it's eating beans and rice for half your meals, maybe it's cutting your cell phone plan to a minimalist one...but there's a way.  FWIW, in 2003 I had a negative net worth of about -$27k.  Now I have a positive net worth approaching half a million.   My wife doesn't work and I'm a cop, so it's not like we just made a ton salary wise.  It's just not carrying any debt other than the mortgages (primary residence and one rental house), putting back 10-15%, and letting it grow.  We had to be pretty cheap in the early years, but that's part of it.

[Two weeks in Spain]

We recently spent two weeks in Spain, and we had a really nice time.  This is our first time using Iberia, and it's a good airline.  We upgraded to premium economy, so that might be part of why, but it was a very comfortable flight.  This is our second time in Spain, but the first time we stayed in Barcelona the entire week.

 

We landed in Madrid and by the time we got through customs and got our rental car it was about 0900.  We went to Segovia for the day, then returned to Madrid to check in to our hotel.  We spent a few days in Madrid.  TBH, Madrid wasn't my favorite.  It was not bad mind you, it's hard to put a finger on it but it didn't seem to have the same level of "local flavor" that so many European destination cities offer.  

 

We then went to Toledo for two days.  My favorite things there were the Alcazar, which has a very nice military museum, as well as a convent that sells cookies through the old turn-table system where you never see the nun.  We walked away from the tourist area and found a nice local restaurant that had *excellent* roast pork.  My son bought a traditional Toledo built knife.  Good times, there.

 

From Toledo, we drove to Tablas Damiel, which is a small national park.  It is wetlands and is kind of like the Florida Everglades, but not exactly.  From there we continued on to Granada.

 

Granada was also a lot of fun.  We visited Alhambra, did a day hike in the Sierra Nevada, hit some other smaller attractions, and also visited their giant mall.  We rented a house in Padul there and did some cooking while we had a kitchen.

 

From there we went Malaga for the day, eating a great seafood meal near the beach and just walking around the tourist areas.  Two big cruise ships had vomited their tourists up on the town, though, and it was rather crowded.  

 

We finished that day driving to Sevilla/Seville.  Seville was a lot of fun, and we did more "non-tourist" stuff there than anywhere.  We found a local park near a bakery and walked there at night, which lead to finding a superb local restaurant.  Our hotel was on the outskirts of town, so we had the pros and cons of that.  Lots of cool architecture and attractions.

 

Next up was Cordoba/Cordova, which was probably my favorite city.  The mosque (now a cathedral) there is very impressive, and there's a partially excavated Muslim city nearby that you can visit as well.

 

Then back to Madrid, hitting a castle out in farmland on the way, which was used in filming of Game of Thrones (Castle of Almodóvar del Río) and this time we stayed on the outskirts of Madrid.  We used that as a springboard to visit some more castles and national parks, and explore the suburb of Madrid that was home to Cervantes.  We did not wander back into Madrid proper, though.

 

We've been home a week now.  The first time I went to drive my Camaro I accidentally pulled forward a few feet when I meant to back up, as I had gotten used to the shift pattern of our rental car in Spain.  Luckily I didn't hit anything and the only damage was to my pride...

 

Pictures on Discord here if anyone is interested:  

 

https://discord.gg/uquJWSpS

 

[My days as a real cop draw to an end...]

Another "the fewer people who know..." situation.  We have to do annual inspections soon.  My office wear suits, but the inspection is geared toward street officers.  A lot of the stuff we are supposed to "inspect" isn't even issued to my guys.  The former LT actually made them wear a uniform in for a day for inspection.  Most Investigations units have the detectives bring the uniform in on a hanger.  I told my sergeants to have the detective take a photo and show them that they have all the required doo-dads on the uniform, raise their right hand and swear they can still fit their ass in the pants, and call it a day...and to keep their mouths shut about it because if the CPT says they need to bring it in physically we'll end up doing that.  I'll be "inspecting" the sergeants the same way. 

 

Nobody actually cares about this, it's just a checkbox we have to do because a certifying body says it's a best practice.  I put just as much effort into box checking as it deserves, and the less time my guys spend on this sort of BS, the more time they have to work their cases.

 

Side note:  The detective who said he didn't have enough work to do got 4 new cases in 2 days instead of his normal 2.  Sgt said he seems like maybe he's putting two and two together. 😄 

 

 

[My days as a real cop draw to an end...]

"I sure got a lot done in that meeting" has to be said about as often as "Wow, that guy revving his motorcycle next to me at the stop light sure is cool."

[My days as a real cop draw to an end...]

On 7/23/2021 at 9:43 AM, Plumbers Crack said:

So true, as long as you have a conscience to go with it, which I know you have Doc

 

I'll go to the wall for a guy who's a little right, but if you're wrong you're wrong and if you lie to me you can go get fucked.  I've got no problem recommending someone for termination and have.  What I don't like is how much ass covering there is when guys screw up but without bad intent or when people make paperwork just to make paperwork.  A guy accidentally discharges a Taser cartridge during maintenance checks.  A certain captain would want a police report and an internal report.  I told him to mark out on investigation at roll call, write that CAD number as the incident the discharge took place, and go get a replacement at the property room.  Don't volunteer any info.  If they give you shit, have them call me.  They didn't ask because they don't care, as long as they have a number to write down they are happy.  It's an honest mistake and one a sergeant can address, there's zero reason to get the LT or above involved.

 

 

Now I'm the LT and I'm already telling the SGTs to solve problems at the lowest level possible.  One of my detectives is now finding out why.  He asked if he could work from home Friday, the sergeant said not without my permission.  This detective emails me and says he is completely caught up on his cases and he has all his gear in his car if he gets called out, so it would be a "waste" to drive in to the office to "twiddle his thumbs".  Now, I've already told the guys they aren't chained to the desk but I expect them to work their cases appropriately.  Suspects and victims aren't in our building, and you can't play detective by telephone all day, so I don't need to see you, I need you to be working.  I told him he was free to work from home that day, as I have no rule about when someone must be in the office as long as they are taking care of their work.  I also told the SGTs to make him a priority in booking (booking is how reports street officers take become cases and get assigned to individual detectives) as I would hate for him to be twiddling his thumbs for very long.  Basically he told me he doesn't have enough work to do, and I'm fixing that.  Who in their right mind goes to their boss' boss and says "I don't have enough work"?

 

I've also revamped the office's method of bidding for time off, which was grossly unfair and very unpopular with the detectives.  It was logistically simpler, but resulted in the same hand full of people getting every major holiday off.  We'll be doing it like street officers do it (and like we did in Homicide/Robbery) next year, where seniority matters and the most senior guy will get his first request for sure, but everyone's first choice goes in the book before anyone's second choice does so they "good" holidays get spread out more.  The senior guy can still get Christmas or Thanksgiving or July 4th, but probably can't get all 3

 

I've reinstituted office pitch-in lunches starting this Wednesday, which had fallen victim to COVID.  Modernized a few things, now it's pretty much like being a fireman.  If everything is working right, I don't have much work to do.  If things go sideways, it's my problem no matter who's problem it is.  But here's how far from being a real cop I am now.  This week I used Excel to go through overtime slips vs grants to make sure we were being reimbursed for certain special project overtime.  I found about $450 that was coded incorrectly that was grant money eligible....good times.

[My days as a real cop draw to an end...]

I've been at the helm of the office for a week and a half now.  Nobody has died.  Nothing has been set aflame.  Mission success.

 

I have my own office, both literally and figuratively.  I've got a literal corner office with an outside window.  I've never had an office before, just a desk.  I'm having photos I've taken in various outdoorsy places printed on canvas to decorate the office with.  Figuratively, as while I (obviously) have people above me they aren't physically there.  My captain has five other LTs who report to him, and he's about 3 miles away from me.  His boss is downtown and about 2 miles the other way.  His boss is the Chief of Police, and that's the top of the chain of command.  So, I'm the highest ranking officer at my facility.  This gives me options for office rules, as a cardinal rule of bureaucracy is the fewer people who know about any given issue, the more options you have.

 

 

[My days as a real cop draw to an end...]

On 7/5/2021 at 2:22 PM, GazzaGarratt said:

Seriously awesome to hear, Doc. Amazing to hear your stories and how you've got through these years. Whilst you clearly will miss those 'real cop' days, I hope that the M-F week and slightly different intensity of life will give you some additional time with the family which is what its all about.

 

And just because you've got a promotion doesn't mean you can stop sharing your random stories from time to time 😎 Proud of you buddy, i'm sure all of FG is too ❤️

 

Ha, thanks.  Random stories now will either be from the past or standard office drone stories, most likely.  At least until/if I switch back to Homicide/Robbery.

 

The official email went out department wide about 6pm today and I got a lot of calls, texts, and MDT messages.  I said goodbye to half the shift (half are going on days off and I'll be gone before they return).  I'm on standby to report to my new assignment, so I had the option of burning time off or working district as...an appendix, really.  Useless and can be removed at any time. 😄  I'm saving my time off and being an appendix.

 

What's been really nice is how many people have expressed an interest in working under me.  A lot of my junior officers were ready to switch districts to follow me, something I also did once to follow a sergeant, so that was kind of heartwarming.  One in particular I'll take in a heartbeat if I can get her.  She started out at DCS as a civilian child death investigator, she'll be a great sworn detective.

While I'm excited for this new chapter, it's really hard to take off the chevrons.  I'm going to miss being "Sarge".