My Farmville Estate

Back to the Farm

I'm back on Farmville . . .

Movies, Farmville, and Baseball - FB the 1st week of October

Oct 3rd

Watched the first two episodes of Carnivale; I liked it, & will add the rest to my Netflix list. Still loving the hell out of the BBC "Life on Mars". The kids liked "The Last Song" but I didn't see more than 5 minutes of it. Wish i could say the same for "MacGruber", which was piss-fing-poor even by SNL movie standards. We could only stomach 15 minutes before throwing the DVD out the window.

Oct 4th

4X this school year my oldest three have been late for school because Lauren's bus can't make up its mind if it wants to be 10 min early or 20 min late for the scheduled pickup. %$%#

After work, w/ the other kids off at dance or Girl Scouts, I took LuL to Tenuta's for a kiddie cocktail and an order of garlic bread (1/2 price before six folks). As usual she was a chatterbox as we sat at the bar, and it was a good time. She's a good kid, she really is. Short, but good ;)

Oct 5th

Last night a nightmare woke me up at 3 in the morning. I was absolutely convinced that Whoopi Goldberg had died, and woke Lisa up to tell her. Why my subconscious would give a sh** about her passing is still under investigation.

Oct 6th

Every problem has a solution, except for those that do not.

Rule #1 for the thriller/action/horror filmmaker: in the first act you must either explain why the protagonist's cell phone isn't working, or conspire to destroy/lose it before the action starts. If you don't, four minutes into the flick the audience is wondering why the dummy doesn't just call 911.

Oct 7th

Today is the 25th anniversary of the cartoon She-Ra.

Financially troubled Grand Avenue Mall is up for sale.


Yesterday the Phillies' Halladay pitched a no-hitter in the NLDS. Wow. Great job.

Here's some more Farmville pics.

I've finished "Handling the Undead" by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindvist. Yes, superficially it's a zombie novel, as the dead do rise, but that label does it a disservice. The dead are not violent, active, or even aware; the story is not about them, but about how their appearance affects the relationships and emotions of their loved ones. It's a damn good novel, and well written.

We watched "The Time Traveler's Wife" tonight. I don't regret the 90 minutes we spent watching it, but I'd rate it slightly less than average. Still, an OK 'pass the time' - no pun intended - flick.

Autumn on the Farm

My farm in fall.

My Estate

More Farmville

My Farm(ville)

On a trip to my friend Erv's house in Loves Park (IL), he introduced me to Farmville. Farmville is a game played primarily through the social networking site Facebook. While you grow and harvest your own crops, you depend on friends to help fertilize your farm, purchase your products and send you gifts.

As with most things that become popular, The Haters Hate. Farmville is now the subject of scorn from 'true' gamers, among others, and has been parodied online.

Oh well. I like it. A LOT. Not only is it fun to play, it really does encourage socialization online. Moreover, it relaxes me. Sometimes, as dorky as it sounds, I imagine this is a second home of mine, one where nature and hard work trump the noise and bustle of the city.

Here's some pics I took of my farm over the summer.

Here's my farmhouse, as it appeared when I first bought it.

My FV home. I love the clothesline and cat, I think they're just the right touch.

So . . . is the mammoth statue too much? {actually, because I like to relax on 'my' farm, I try to make it relatively realistic. I plant crops native to this region, avoid things like banana trees, and put the mammoth there just to get the pic.}

I wanted the greenhouse forever, but when I finally earned enough to buy it I was disappointed to learn it was merely a prop and not functional.

Eventually, I'll get a shot with the crops full grown. I didn't realize I hadn't. Here's my farm as it appeared earlier this month. The barn is to the right, the dairy barn to the right front. The brown building near my home is my bakery. Behind it and to the left is the chicken coop. My pigpen and horse stable are on the bottom right, and the yellow building is my nursery. My beehives and garage are located in the upper left, out of the shot.

Notice my blimp?

                            

My Farmville Home

ISO

FV friends: I mistakenly deleted my newly expanded nursery in Farmville, and it cannot be restored. So kindly start barraging me with expansion materials if you can. TYIA.

My Farm

it's a Problem

How you can tell Farmville has taken over your life: Lisa and I were in the produce section when she asked me if I'd ever heard of a sale item called an asian apple pear. I stared at her for a second in disbelief, then answered - unintentionally - in valley girl upspeak:   "Uhhhh, *yeah*,  I raise them on my farm."

Still more Farmville

So . . . is the mammoth statue too much?

FV friends - please help in 'raising' my expanded chicken coop. I'm also in need of Topaz, horseshoes, bees, and a life. Thank you in advance.

More Farmville

My FV home. I love the clothesline and cat, I think they're just the right touch.

Farmville

My new farmhouse

I just checked my wall and noticed how cluttered it is w/ Farmville crap. If that annoys you - and it would annoy me - block the FV application (but not my feed). If you can't figure out how to do that, well, then you don't deserve to be on the net anyhow and should suffer through my "Lost Wandering Moo Cow" updates. (repost)

Farmville

Ok, I'm ticked at Farmville. I had my barn nearly complete and now it says I have only 1 of 10 bamboo (I had all 10), only one brick (I had six), and four nails. WTF?

Farmville

Sure, it's lame, BUT - if anyone could gift me the material to finish my Japanese barn in Farmville, I'd appreciate it.