I believe I mentioned that whole thing where I posted a bunch of texture images on DeviantArt. Well, hands down so far the most popular one is the hardwood floor texture, which has been downloaded 37 times in the past day and a half. This led to a wry observation on how popular our floor was.

I turned our slate porch surface into an interesting ‘window’ image, which I’m pretty proud of. I’m also playing with part of it to create an eventual banner for a possible craft-selling etsy store. Yeah, fine, that’s more than a little premature, but once I get an idea into my head I just can’t let go. And besides, I think it looks pretty cool!

Just to really pile on the artwork, here’s a new cafepress tabletop roleplaying design. It came out of some truly spectacular D&D fumble tales from the last few months:

 

Yes, it really does say “An arrow in the butt is better than a spear in the winkie.” Did I mention that our GMs have some particularly vicious fumble tables?

Here are the latest book reviews for you: Vicki Lewis Thompson’s Wild & Hexy and the awesome Jean Johnson’s The Storm.

The Little White Thing You Stand On (oops… I mean Wii Fit…) is WAY too much fun. We’re contemplating dropping our gym memberships, although we’ll wait to make sure that in the long run (say, a month from now) we still feel we’re getting an adequate workout with this. If that works out, it means the Wii and Wii Fit will have more than paid for themselves.

The aerobics stuff, like the running, is definitely enough to work up a good sweat and leave you out of breath. The strength training is surprisingly effective—it uses core conditioning techniques to pit you against your own body mass so you don’t need machines. The yoga stretches and balance exercises, of course, work perfectly with the balance board. Someday I hope they come up with a balance mat version that’ll allow a wider array of activities, but I think this works surprisingly well for now. There are quite a few benefits to working out with this thing, as silly as it may seem at first:

• The ‘game’ format keeps things fun, challenging, and entertaining, not to mention less chore-like.
• Since you can do this in your home, you can fit your workout easily in around chores, work hours, dinner, etc.
• I find it easier to work out when I have the most physical energy and motivation—which for me is usually late morning. That’s a horrid time to exercise outside where I am, as I don’t deal well with heat & humidity, both of which are pretty nasty here. It’s also a time when I can’t get to the gym.
• The workout pieces seem awfully short at first, but you swiftly ‘unlock’ extra reps and such, quickly building up to a level you’re comfortable with.
• The board and program are surprisingly good at noting how you’re doing by measuring how shaky, steady, etc. you are.
• Presumably they’ll be able to put out additional disks later with additional exercises on them—and there are already plenty to begin with.
• The tracking and charting functions are so well-integrated that you hardly have to do a thing. It measures & tracks your weight, BMI, and exercise levels for you. No more having to remember to write that stuff down.
• Because there are some easier exercises in there, such as one or two of the yoga poses and some of the balance exercises, I can imagine continuing to get exercises even on days when I’m tired, sick, sore, etc. That means fewer breaks in the routine of working out, which means I’m more likely to keep it up as a habit.

All in all, as silly as the concept seems, the execution is brilliant.

One of my favorite resources for fleshing out a character (for both writing & roleplaying) is the vast wealth of portraiture found online. I created a DeviantArt account largely so that I could start collecting DA character portraiture in a convenient place. It occurred to me this morning that I should link to that collection so that anyone who comes across this might use it as well. So here you are: the ever-expanding collection of character images. Here’s one of my favorites:

My collection-so-far includes everything from casual contemporary photos to elegant fantasy art. Enjoy! You’ll also find other handy categories in my faves such as ‘plots’ (for images that I think could inspire fascinating plots).

We have two new book reviews up since the last post. One is of a contemporary adventure/romance: Lora Leigh’s Nauti Dreams, while the other is a fantasy/romance: Jean Johnson’s The Cat.