So, pizza then?

Author: eric Date: Monday July 27th, 2026

Well I finally found a solution to wanting to dump Wordpress but also not wanting to write HTML from scratch or wanting to use a complex static site generator. The answer is kiki! It's just wonderful. A super lightweight php page generator and a simple to use and easy to remember markup language called bug. Now I'm just going back and transcribing the posts from my Wordpress installation over to here. Once I have that done, I'm going to delete the Wordpress install and move this entire directory over to eric.iseasyto.ca..

Here's a photo I shot with a Canon AT-1 on Kodak Gold 200 film. It's from the first roll of film I shot since... 1997 maybe?

a photo of colourful bunting on a fence
hnnnngggg that film grain

Author: eric Date: Tuesday July 21st, 2026

I received this dickover when I visited a Canadian magazine's website the other day:

a screenshot of a dickover that says Macleans and their 1725 partners value my privacy by using my precise geolocation data and can identify me through device scanning
"partners"

One thousand seven hundred and twenty five. That's how many different companies this once-respected institution is selling my existence to. Absolutely disgusting. Imagine having the nerve to then proudly proclaim that they respect my privacy.

Shame on you, Macleans.

Author: eric Date: Monday July 20th, 2026

I made a throwaway minimum bid at a local auction house for a Canon AT-1 35mm camera and a box of lenses. The website had a single, low resolution and out-of-focus photo so I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I placed the bid.

Turns out, what I got was:

 - An f2.8 50mm lens
 - An f1.8 28mm wide angle lens
 - A 100mm-200mm telephoto lens
 - A macro lens of some sort
 - A near-mint camera body that just needed a good cleaning and dusting

I can't believe my luck! I bought a roll of 200 ISO Kodak Gold film and I'll see how it turns out. I am loving the deliberate and purposeful decision making that happens when there’s a finite and number of photos that can be taken (not to mention the fact there’s a distinct dollar value attached to each one). I also really like that there is no immediate satisfaction. I have no idea if the 8 photos I took this morning are any good, and I probably won’t know for a while until I shoot 28 more and get the roll developed.

Author: eric Date: Saturday April 25th, 2026

I saw a random post somewhere on Mastodon that mentioned the 1985 DOS game Striker and the included screen shot yanked something deep in the childhood nostalgia region of my brain. I hadn’t thought of it in decades but I remembered playing it as a kid and had to track it down.

screenshot of the title screen from the DOS computer game Striker. It prominently features a helicopter in an action pose. The dominant colours of the screenshot are cyan and magenta
Found it

Dang that CGA cyan/magenta colour palette gets me every single time.

The game itself is actually pretty fun, especially considering it’s from 1985. You fly your helicopter through a horizontal landscape, either shooting or bombing tanks, rockets, or alien ships. The more you maneuver your chopper, the faster your fuel reserves deplete, but destroying ground-based fuel tanks replenish a small amount in your tank.

screenshot from the DOS game Striker. There is a white helicopter on screen and the outline of terrain beneath it
Attract mode

The end of each level has a small challenge; center your helicopter on a landing pad to pick up spies and then the next level you do the same to drop them off. Another is to pick up cargo, etc.

The game isn’t overly challenging and it felt really good to play it again. According to the readme included, it was created by a Derek Williams. Derek, if you’re still out there, know that childhood me and adult me had a lot of fun with this.

Author: eric Date: Monday March 02nd, 2026

Every now and then I have the urge to dip my toes into tabletop RPGs. Unfortunately, nobody else in my circle of friends has ever expressed any interest in it (or, like me, they keep it well hidden). So, instead of a traditional D & D game, I usually make my way through a Fighting Fantasy book while my wife puzzles. It makes for a cozy evening in. Plus, they are filled with this incredible 70s/80s fantasy artwork:

black and white artwork of a woman with long hair and a black dress staring intensely at the viewer

I’ve made a Fighting Fantasy scoring spreadsheet that I use whenever I play and maybe some others will find it useful. I’ll include the pdf output for easy printing and the Libreoffice Calc file in case anyone wants to make it their own. It uses the Dalelands Uncial font which should be pretty easy to track down, if you want it.

Fighting Fantasy adventure sheet (pdf)

Fighting Fantasy adventure sheet (xlsx)

Author: eric Date: Saturday November 30th, 2024

Honestly I registered this domain mostly for the custom bluesky handle but maybe I can also use this just for fun???

This is a picture of one of our cats. His name is Odin but we call him Mr. Sir and also sometimes Dr. Fart. He is a good and sweet boy but he is also very dumb.

A photo of my cat Odin. He is a gray tabby and in this image he has his tongue sticking out