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Jinxed Idol combo

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For a while I've been trying to build Magic the Gathering deck around Jinxed Idol, but I never found a useful combo because on its own it can be a tad slow doing only 2 damage each turn.

The Time Spiral expansion set gets me a lot closer to making such a deck, though: Paradox Haze can give another player an additional upkeep phase each turn, doubling the effect of Jinxed Idol. Add Relic Bane for two more damage each upkeep and opponents will need their enchantment and artifact kill just to make sure they don't lose 4 or 8 life (depending on whether you have two or three of the combo in play at once, and where) each turn.

Probably best to play this combo with a lot artifact creatures (they'd probably leave those alone with the true damage being elsewhere) suitable for defense and sacrifice (Ornithopher) and add Jinxed Ring to add one additional damage each time an artifact hits the graveyard. Contaminated Bond sounds like fun as well because in this setup it allows black to pacify even the scariest creature - opponents shouldn't be too willing to waste 3 life when they see their total vanish every turn.

Something tells me that this deck should be finished with some seeker and discard cards to make it truly annoying, but we'll see when I start testing the deck.

What's up with Rob?

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Other than still being able to write lame rhymes, everything is dandy here. I'm still somewhat hyper from GIAN and with three concerts coming up this weekend this means my happy vibe is going to be a prolonged one! I can't really dismiss Laura either but whatever the exact reason for the vibe, I feel great. :-)

Work is quite hectic, I put in plenty of over-time this weekend. And it looks like trips to Moscow (finally!) and Bucharest are about to happen this month. But anyone who slightly knows me also knows that I like to not just play hard but also work hard (when I'm not lazy). The only downside is that I haven't really had time to work on the new Capsi site but I'm hopeful that I will find a bit of time for that pet project later this week. I still have to finish the blogs, picture galleries, friends lists, proper form feedbacks and whatnot.. the basics look very promising to me though.

Tonight however will be a regular pub night.. I feel like I've deserved it, so you know where you can find me!

Edit: oops, hangover! Also, God apparently felt like handing me lemons because both Alexisonfire shows have been cancelled due to a family emergency for the band. So I made lemonade and hacked together cancellations and postponed dates for the concert site. :-D

Tunnel/plug madness

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Okay, I've made up my mind. (Besides, it's not like you can't change ear jewelry when you change your mind again.)

I've ordered a light blue titanium tunnel, a simple skull plug and the ace of spades plug that I previously mentioned. Now all I need is one more stretch, to 10mm.. before I can find more places in my body to mess with. :)

PS: Happy birthday Kari!

Haircut, tunnel, gig

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It's been a good day: the barber gave me a new haircut, the piercing shop replaced the ring in my ear for a tunnel (and went from 7mm to 8mm for free) and tonight I'm seeing Tiger Army at Waterfront.

Let's just hope I won't be too drunk because I have flight to catch in the morning. Definitely looking forward to GIAN, shopping in London, and spending time with Laura and .

Ear Plug/Tunnel Considerations

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My ear is now stretched to 7mm and will soon go to 9mm, so I'm getting close to the centimeter I'd like for a final configuration. That can only mean one thing: shopping time!

At the moment I really, really like this plug:

/img/journal/earplug.jpg

But what I don't like about it is that it's mere plastic and that a plug doesn't really show the result of the stretching like a tunnel would: you could fake a plug with any button and some double-sided tape. :D

So perhaps I should go for an actual tunnel after all. (On the other hand, I'm considering to stretch my septum a little bit, so I could always put a tunnel in there?)

Pub poker

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Note to self: only play poker in the pub. Whenever I play it elsewhere, with patience and tactics, I lose money. Whenever I am totally hammered I seem to have the magic ability to go all-in on two-seven unsuited and still win the pot.

Okay, that's not entirely true (I play Hold'Em Limit on my mobile), but I turned another tenner into twenty-two last night with a streak of straights, which means there's four times the amount of money in my account now than what I've started with. I'll admit it's all peanuts and that I'm no big player, but still.. I'd rather make a small profit every week/month than pretend to be great while in reality all I do is make weekly deposits.

So yay to me and yay to drunken poker!

Photography update

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It's been a while since I've been in the mood to upload pictures, but there are over a dozen new ones from my skiing trip and my trip to Israel. My favourite pictures are Zell am See's black slope and me chilling at the beach in Tel-Aviv. Check all the pictures in the updated photography section.

Call me for free with Jaxtr

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There's a (new?) service out there that somehow links blogs to phones to free calls. I'm a bit too busy to call myself, but please give it a try and call me. It should be for free and you should even be able to make international calls at a local rate using your regular phone.

More when I'm done playing.

Ed Hardy breaking through

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For a while now I have been telling my friends to forget about brands such as Lucky 13, Von Dutch, Vans and Converse. The next big thing is Don Ed Hardy.

And it looks like I've been absolutely right:

Landlord Rob

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Apparently the pub registered me with Jameson as their top Jameson drinker, which might or might not have to do with all the Irish coffee I order.

Anyway, this mean I'll get a certificate and deed for a couple of square feed in Ireland. I'm going to be a landowner in Ireland.

That's kind of neat considering Google has approached me again for a job interview. Their European tech centre is in Dublin so the more land I own there the easier it would be to relocate. :-)

New Don Ed Hardy shoes again

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I've abandoned all stars and vans for a while now, instead buying Don Ed Hardy shoes. Well, good news: the Britain chain just started selling them so I couldn't resist and bought me some tonight. Lowrise, skull plus geisha, black, holes no laces. Nice!

Weekend update

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I'll keep this short and simple.

Nine Inch Nails was short, but otherwise excellent.

St. Patrick's Day was nice as well, or at least what I remember (a few snogs and a whole lot of drinks).

Sunday was kind of lousy with nearly every team I support (PSV, Liverpool, Celtic) having an off-day. Bloodhound Gang made up for it though.

And now back to work. :-)

On-line and mobile poker

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Can someone tell me why I always lose money when playing poker on-line on my laptop, while I make a (small but steady) profit when playing on my mobile with the PokerRoom GPRS client?

It's almost as if the pocket cards dealt include some sort of compensation for my network charges.. or for the fact that I look like a total dork when playing in the pub. But hey, on average I earn two free pints a night - not bet for a mediocre Texas Hold'Em player.

How not to travel to Moscow

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My business trip to Moscow was wonderful, but only in the most sarcastic way imaginable. And it all started so well: I managed to get up at six and arrived at Schiphol ten past eight.

Hurray? Not really. Less than a minute after picking up my SAS tickets the nice lady at the check-in counter informed me to look outside and understand that there was too much fog for them to not cancel my flight to Stockholm. Fortunately I was transferred to a KLM flight to Stockholm which would actually get me there sooner. Or so I thought.

Less than a minute after checking in my baggage (two demo machines required for my trip) and paying the overweight charges, it became clear that this flight would have a delay. I would miss my connection to Moscow. So I got transferred once again, this time to a direct flight of Aeroflot. The only problem: because of different overweight fees between carriers, I'd have to recollect my baggage at arrivals and check it in again at Aeroflot.

Half an hour gone: no baggage. One hour gone: nada. Five minutes before final check-in opportunity: nothing. So I didn't check-in at Aeroflot as going to Moscow without the demo machines would be pointless. But hey, don't despair, they would surely arrive soon and then I'd book a very late flight with Lufthansa. That would still give me time for the demo.

Another hour passes and I decide to check at the service desk again. Where they told me that due to all the delays and cancellations cargo had no time whatsoever to sort things out. Ergo, I would not get my machines any time soon and in fact, yes, in fact, they were actually on their way to Stockholm despite me not being on that flight.

That was the final straw. I cancelled all flights and am back where I started earlier this morning: Rotterdam. Our machines? Not sure where those are. Maybe Amsterdam, maybe Stockholm, but definitely not Moscow. Our business trip and launch in Russia? Delayed for at least a week because my visa expires on Thursday. Me? Completely knackered from walking half the distance to Moscow itself between all the different desks and counters at Schiphol.

I hate the word, but suffice to say this trip was totally meh.

Valentines Oops

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If you were surprised to see Inge featured in today's special Valentines style.. don't worry, so was I. Oops.

Note to self: next time check on the 13th ('s birthday, hi pet!) that whomever features in the header picture(s) is indeed a current love/crush or at least a potential one. And certainly not an ex.

Not-so-quick update

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As announced, it's been a while. Hello!

I just got back from London. Work sent me there for a quick business trip lasting two days (originally one) and despite the delayed flight and exhausting security queue at Gatwick airport, I had a good time. The exhibition was mostly useful even though some gaps in our exploration for leads remain.

Highlight of the trip however would be my lunch date with Laura. Rumours exist that if all goes well and beyond work will open a R&D shop in London in a year or two, she's one good reason to relocate there if that happens. I hate to rain down on any parades but on the other hand, despite radio silence, Inge remains a reason not to. There's no chance nor plausibility to get back with her but I still do miss her.

Anyway, the weekend of the 13th I was in Tel Aviv for another business trip and even though most of my trips go to England and Scandinavia I have to concede one thing. There's a big fun factor in drinking coffee at the beach in a t-shirt in January while doing some brainstorming, and then calling it work. Also, nice Ed Hardy store over there so I expanded my wardrobe and shoe collection a bit. Jerusalem was fun as well. It kind of confirmed my suspicion that religion is for the dim-witted, but regardless it was an experience unlike any other.

Having covered the present and past, a small update on the future now. I'll work tomorrow (read: later today) and then will be off to Austria for a week of skiing. There's a chance I'll have to take a day off from my holiday to do some business with a bookmaker in Graz or Zell am See, but it should still be fun to have a classic and traditional week in the mountains with dad.

So yeah.. life's still busy here. I'm glad it is! :-)

Love

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What's a guy supposed to do when...

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an easy boyfriend and I'm the first to admit that things didn't really work out. But damnit, I don't fall in love easily and it was the first time in at least two years that I did and the first time in over five years that I believed in it. But it's over, done with, gone, the past, nada, a waste of time and effort...

She's gone.

Which doesn't mean there's no one else I fancy. Not at all. But still.. I was in love and I still am. And even though the most subtile thing she could say was "I feel bad for you".. I feel bad about it.

I honestly again do pray I will never ever fall in love again. Flings are cool but whenever I start to love someone I end up being heartbroken. I'm drunk and it's hopeless so don't remember this post unless it makes an impression.. but Inge, I still love you.

Indefinite hiatus

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Little has changed: I live a busy life. As a result, this journal is on indefinite hiatus, as could very well be my photography.

Which doesn't mean I won't ever post, but I'm just nothing for the unlikely few who still expect updates that there won't be too many in the near future.

Sup?

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It's hard to find time to update a journal when you spend every single minute on parties (nice soul/hiphop gig last night), sleep and work (live TV production for TMF, fun). Unfortunately in opposite order: weekend starts at Sunday afternoon over here.

It's okay though.. these busy weekends at least make sure I barely have time to miss Inge as much as I would if I'd have the time to think about her.

Bratislava after all?

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Work didn't send me to the former Commie states last week because they wanted to attempt an installation themselves first, but apparently they failed and have booked me a ticket to the Czech Republic (or Slovakian?) for Friday. No one here knew about it though, so all the nice plans I made for Dorith and Inge as well as the Bullet For My Valentine gig are being jeopardised.

I still hope I'll be back on Saturday for all that fun but for now my agenda looks like a big questionmark. Hurray. (Not!)

© Copyright 1995-2007 Robert John Kaper. All rights reserved.

Tom has more friends but mine are prettier! (#1/1)