Archive for July 2007

A person can read plenty of books on how to improve your writing skills, but how do you retain all that information? You can’t … unless you have a photographic memory. Realistically, you can pick up a few tips and make those a habit. Then you pick up a few more in the next book… repeat. A Guide to Becoming a Better Writer: 15 Practical Tips offers doable tips — you may do most of them already.

In my freshman year in college, I majored in Radio-TV-Film (affectionally known as RTVF). Though it only lasted a semester, I picked up one valuable lesson. We learned about the basics mechanics of a film including shot angles, editing and so on. Whenever I rented a movie, I started noticing these mechanics and paying attention on how the film’s director used them.

Writing is the same way. In reading books, you notice mechanics. I’ll watch for the noun verb sentence so I can discover powerful verbs and ways to write a sentence without using the word “is.” This advice appears in the first tip: Read great writers. Here are the 15 tips without the comments.

1. Read great writers
2. Write a lot
3. Write down ideas, all the time
4. Create a writing ritual
5. Just write
6. Eliminate distractions
7. Plan, then write
8. Experiment
9. Revise
10. Be concise
11. Use powerful sentence
12. Get feedback
13. Put yourself out there
14. Learn to be conversational
15. Start and end strong

Surviving many bad dates can make a single person cranky, but it’s worthwhile when finding the right person to marry. Next comes planning the wedding, which sometimes can feel like a disastrous date. And then the worst wedding nightmare of all — the wedding planner bowing out too close to the wedding, but not close enough to the big day that all the work has been done. Instead, the wedding planner turns the already nervous bride into a panicky one.

The wedding planner hadn’t taken care of the appetizers, side dishes, main dish, honeymoon, flowers, or cake. One bride faced with this situation lucks out with help from her friend, Quinn who happens to be a friend of Flo’s from the popular Diner Dash series that started the game genre often referred to as “Diner Dash style.” Such games involve a lot of frenzy where the main character must accomplish tasks, keep customers happy and reach the goal for each level to advance to the next level.

Wedding Dash has the advantage of being a Diner Dash spin off complete with the same cartoon-style graphics, story line and likeable characters. Welcome to the wedding-themed version of Diner Dash. One might think after three versions of Diner Dash that the series could start to turn formulaic. On the contrary, Wedding Dash earns its success. Sure, Flo appears in the game on occasion, but Quinn does the heavy-duty work.

After saving her friend’s wedding, Quinn wins another job and soon the weddings start pouring in. As an accidental wedding planner, Quinn starts small by holding backyard weddings. As business grows, she moves up to a hotel, ship, island and castle. Before the reception begins, Quinn selects three things based on the bridge and groom’s background and interests. For each correct selection, the player earns $100 toward the next level of the game.

Players, in the role of Quinn, seat attendees at the tables ensuring they seat the guest with the right person or away from the wrong person. Quinn’s assistant picks up the gifts taking them to the bride and groom, feeds three dishes to every guest and occasionally does special orders such as a request for a glass of wine or pass on a song request to the DJ.

Quinn doesn’t sit around as she puts out the fires, sometimes literally when the kitchen turns smoky. She also soothes the aunt, handles the drunken uncle discreetly, shoos away bees (carefully) and dogs, stops the cake table from falling and averts any other potential disaster. Upgrades appear from time to time giving players the chance to speed up staff, increase the food table size or gain points whenever a guest steps out on the dance floor.

Where Wedding Dash stands out is in the variety. The venues, the wedding couple, the guests, the potential disasters and the funny comments from the couple keep the game moving, As the game progresses, guests ask to move and sit next to someone else keeping things hopping. The challenge increases as you progress, while at times the situation turns frantic forcing the player to replay the level too many times. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s where the biggest frustration with the game dwells. As with most Diner games, each level has a goal score and an expert score. Reaching the expert score rarely happens in this one.

The other nitpick is that clicks don’t always “take.” Click on two dishes and after walking over to the table to serve them to guests, you realize your waitress only has one dish in hand. That wastes precious time which could mean the difference between making and not making the next level.

Typical of a good casual game, two modes are available — the story mode is known as Career Mode and ongoing mode with no story is Endless Reception (plays exactly like it sounds!). No matter the footsteps, Wedding Dash deserves its applause and a toast to many days of gaming bliss.

P.S. Southpaws, Quinn is a lefty!

Download and try Wedding Dash.

System Requirements: Windows

• Windows ME/2000/XP/Vista
• Pentium III 700MHz or faster processor
• 800×600 minimum screen resolution
• DirectX 7.0 or later
• 25MB available disk space

System Requirements: Mac

• Mac OS X 10.3.9 or newer
• G4 800 MHz or faster, or G5 or Intel processor
• 800×600 minimum screen resolution
• 25MB available disk space

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Meryl Evans

I went through a period where I simply couldn’t blog. It wasn’t the lack of blogging ideas — I had article suggestions waiting in the wings. None of them sounded good at the time. So I went blog hopping looking for good posts worth sharing. This lasted a few weeks, so I began to wonder if I was burning out on blogging.

Last week, I started piling up on posting ideas, fleshing them out and publishing them. Maybe it was burn out and maybe it wasn’t. Sometimes a person loses desire or energy to write or blog. I survived this period by commenting on posts in other blogs. The posts were shorter than I’d like, but it was better than nothing.

Not posting at all would have been dangerous. Doing this could create a bad habit of not posting and plus, when your content isn’t fresh… people lose interest. With millions of blogs out there, plenty provide fresh content on a daily basis some do multiple posts in a single day.

No matter how many articles you read on “How to get ideas for blogging” — they won’t help you through this time. You can prepare for times when you’re not motivated to blog by taking advantage of times when you’re motivated. During this time, write as many posts as you can especially those that don’t rely on timing. For example, posting a New Year’s article in July might not go over as well as in December. Of course, the problem is finding time to do the extra blog writing.

When that “the well is dry” day arrives, check out your pre-written posts and publish one. Huge load off. What do you do when you’re stuck?

Beware Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Mummy isn’t a brand new game, but instead a re-release as a downloadable game as opposed to boxed software. It’s disappointing to see a PC game called “Exclusive” when it came out in 2002 as Sherlock Holmes and the Curse of the Mummy! It felt like the game publisher deceived us for the sakes of sales thinking no one would bother to search elsewhere.

The game, a massive download at 451 MB, sunk further when I realized it was in 3D. I hadn’t played for five minutes before the 3D hurt my eyes. My eyes are sensitive to motions like those in a 3D game. Plus, outdated graphics most likely escalated the discomfort. So I enlisted family members to help with the game.

The story revolves around the disappearance of Lord Montcalfe, an Egyptian archaeologist. The game throws you to the hounds of Baskerville by offering no help to get started and little direction throughout.

We hadn’t played the adventure game long before we hit a roadblock. No one wanted to play the sliding puzzle mini-game. After 20 minutes of messing with the puzzle, we conquered it and hoped to never play it again. Darn it! It came back!

The game play felt rough, requiring too much effort to move around and interact. Some of the puzzles challenged us and we felt pride as soon as we solved them. However, these puzzles didn’t return soon enough to keep us revving. The constant moving of the mouse over every pixel of the screen to find objects drove us crazy, but we kept pushing in hopes the game would turn around.

Instead, we faced more mind numbing games, where felt like the librarian who moves the books around until they are all in the right place, just to find a single object or the wine connoisseur and gather all the wines and get them in the right order on an empty shelf just to reveal … a slider puzzle.

We appreciate a good Sherlock Holmes mystery, but not in this game. It didn’t compel us to enjoy playing the role of the infamous detective. We might like the game, however, if you plug the puzzles in a modern version of the game without the clunky graphics and without putting so much effort to accomplish simple task.

While Batman could survive without Robin in the movies, Sherlock Holmes isn’t the same without Dr. Watson. Watson offers insight and humor to counter Holmes serious and impersonal demeanor. The game’s advertisement says, “Interact with Watson,” but he makes a cameo appearance instead of acts as a co-star.

Why any developer would recapture this old boxed PC game in downloadable format is beyond us. Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Mummy won’t please fans of Sherlock Holmes or adventure games unless the last adventure game played was from the 1990s.

System Requirements: Windows

• Windows ME/2000/XP/Vista
• 600MHz or faster Processor
• 128MB RAM

The recent announcement of the new 7 Wonders of the World prompted EWeek to start a fascinating conversation asking what should be the 7 Wonders of the Modern Computing World. You can read about the original 7 Wonders of the World.

The Apple ][ should be one of the wonders. It was the first affordable home PC. While other desktop PCs beat Apple, they were not affordable or realistic for homeowners. The Sony Walkman made music portable. While the iPod changed online music and music in general — the Walkman came first — if there’s room for both, then by all means.

ENIAC is another. Charles Babbage should also be considered. While he didn’t build anything, he originated the idea of the programmable computer. He sketched the archiecture for the difference engine, and scientists used the specs to build it in 1991. It worked. What do you think should be considered?

Tetris goes to the flowers in Orchidia, a falling block game or rather “floating items” game. Today’s casual games don’t just stop at making matches and preventing blocks from reaching the top as in Tetris. Instead, they have a story that revolves around the game play. Orchidia represents the name of a place where the villain Orchus destroys its magic by blocking the river. At the same time, Orchus works to escape the river’s magic, which has trapped him.

Accompanied by a quick-witted duck, players must unclog the 60 levels of blockages in the river to restore Orchidia’s magic and rid of Orchus. Evil creatures also pop in with tongue-in-check conversation to talk smack and scare the player away from saving Orchidia while the good creatures provide advice on what to do in conquering the current blockage. The only complaints in the game are the hard-to-read text in the dialog and the difficult to use game options. The game options are standard, but changing them takes effort — a usability issue.

Players control the floating flowers by moving them left or right, rotating them and speeding up their floating. You have the option of using the mouse or keyboard. Leaves, flowers and other river blocks come out from the sides to add barriers in the quest to meet the current level’s goal. Goals range from sinking 60 flowers and freeing creatures to clearing 10 flowers of the same color and collecting 50 leaves without clogging the river.

Some falling block games will clear the blocks when making a match of three or more connecting items — not necessarily in a row or column like in the following example:

X
XX
  X

More than three X’s connect, thus some games consider this a match. Orchidia only accepts matches when three items appear in the same row or column, which boosts the challenge. The level of difficulty climbs just the right amount with each completed level. Some games do a poor job by jumping from easy to hard between two levels instead of a little at a time — not a problem in Orchidia. The game never trapped me in a level for so long that I wanted to give up. Some levels took a few tries to conquer, but I got through them with practice and experience.

While falling block games are a-plenty, Orchidia comes with power ups — in the form of charms — to help clear flowers and creatures or add extra time. The Touch Charm clears the flowers it touches. The Row Charm erases the flowers and objects appearing in the row where it lands. The Column Charm does the same for columns. Flower Color Charms sinks flowers of the same color as the charm.

The music reminded me of weddings when the bridesmaids walk down the aisle. The music complemented the flowers floating down the river to create a calm and content feel though you have a dangerous job in saving Orchidia. Like most casual games, Orchidia comes in two modes: Adventure (story) and Orchidia Eternal. In the latter, the game works more like Tetris where you keep clearing flowers to avoid reaching the top of the river.

The scenes in this whimsical game vary from winter with snow and spring to cobwebbed plants and flowers to heighten the challenge. This fantasy game is a lovely package complete with the occasional commentary from voices providing positive reinforcement, charming graphics, and creative twist on Tetris.

Download free trial of Orchidia or play online.

Joyboost offers game instructions, hints and tips, and wallpaper.

System Requirements: Windows

• Windows 2000/XP/Vista
• 256MB RAM
• 1GHz or faster Processor

While freelancing offers flexibility in terms of time and location, procrastinators and people who can’t motivate themselves will find it a struggle. Unlike a corporate job, “when you’re not working, you don’t earn money.” In the corporate world on a regular salary, you get paid during slow times even if it means you might spend that time chatting, playing games or surfing the Web.

Sticking to a schedule doesn’t mean creating a schedule like high school. First period: Blogging. Second period: Answering e-mails. It’s more flexible, but you do the same things around the same time every day.

I start my day by checking and deleting e-mails. Then I blog here and at InformIT. Next, I review my calendar and to do items to decide what tasks to complete for the day. This means picking one to three tasks that I can check off and feel a sense of accomplishment — NOT looking at the long list and pouting that I have too much to do.

Sure, on occasion, I might not blog until the afternoon. It’s OK to stray from your general schedule as things come up or you’re motivated to do something else. Having a schedule helps you make it a habit of getting specific things done each day and you tend to stick to it.

Do you have a craving or a feeling about things on specific days of the week? Days of the year? For instance, do you have a hankering for turkey or Mom’s famous dessert at Thanksgiving? Do you feel like swimming or grilling on Memorial Day, 4th of July and/or Labor Day? Because we get used to doing the same things on those holidays, it becomes a habit and a desire. Scheduling the same tasks each day works in a similar way.

I start my day with a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. Last week, when the newspaper didn’t show up for the first time in ages, we called the newspaper and they delivered it to my door by 9:00am. However, the “first thing” feeling passed and I was already deep in my work that I never read the paper that day. It felt weird not to start my day with the newspaper because of habit.

Rebecca and Robert are on a quest to build a successful restaurant franchise! In Turbo Pizza, you have full control over their pizza destiny. Decide when its right to purchase new appliances, better menu options, or put resources behind developing Rebecca and Roberts skills. Save enough money to open a second location in an even MORE unique setting. Meet your customers needs and word of mouth will bring the masses. Remember though, different customers have different needs.

* 50 challenging levels.
* Set up shop in 2 locations.
* Earn money to buy new items.

Download the game from your favorite site

• Amazon
• Big Fish Games

From Detroit Free Press and published in The Dallas Morning News (may require free registration):

Fewer small-business owners – 59% now versus 67% four years ago – expect to take a summer vacation of at least a week, according to OPEN, the small-business arm of American Express.

Of those U.S. business owners who said they were planning to take a vacation, 65% said they will worry about their business while away. What are they worried about?

1. Who will manage the business while they are gone.

2. Clients not getting the level of service they are used to receiving.

3. Staff judgment calls.

4. Employees slacking off.

As a one-person business, I fear falling behind and becoming more overwhelmed upon my return. For the most part, I don’t earn anything unless I work. So it’s hard to stop working for any length of time. I also like to respond to clients within 24 hours — while I tend to check e-mails from anywhere, it may not be possible while on vacation.

While the review focuses on the PalmOS version of the game, some of its elements can apply to the PC version, Gameboy version, and Windows Mobile version.

Broken Sword: The Shadow of Templars is an epic adventure that begins in Paris where American tourist George Stobbart witnesses a murder in a (what else?) cafe. The murdered stole the ancient manuscript from the dead man. George takes an interest in the murder and begins unraveling a lengthy story surrounding the Knights of Templars. He doesn’t go on the adventure alone as he meets photojournalist Nico Collard.

George does all the grunt work and puts himself in danger while Nico stays comfy in her flat waiting for his visits or phone calls. While maneuvering on a PalmOS device gets tricky, Astraware does a spectacular job in bringing the adventure to the small device.

The engrossing story has kept me busy for hours and months. I’ve had the game for a long time, but due to other commitments — I couldn’t play it or took long breaks in between. More impressive, the long game plays beautifully on the PalmOS and never crashes. The graphics in the cutscenes, where you watch a mini-movie or stills, looked sharp and contained a cinematic effect.

The game contains many little details that appeared clearly on the small screen. The trickier parts of the game involved using two or more objects together. I had to play with the controls for a long time when I came across the first time a situation called for combining two objects. Once you figure it out, future object combinations go more smoothly — but not perfectly.

Adventure games have one drawback — replayability, or lack thereof. Few people replay an adventure game upon completion. But this one lasts a long time to earn its money’s worth. Not only does Broken Sword: The Shadow of Templars take you beyond Paris to Ireland, Spain, Britain and Syria, but also it provides plenty of comic relief. George’s quick-witted humor makes him instantly likable.

Considering I took breaks between game playing sessions, sometimes I lost track of the story. In most cases, the game gets you back on track. Playing Broken Sword: The Shadow of Templars reminded me of the old days when I loved playing adventure games like King’s Quest, Mystery House and Leisure Suit Larry. Be patient, absorb all of the dialog and you’ll enjoy the game to the fullest.

Broken Sword: The Shadow of Templars for PalmOS or Windows Mobile.

Compatibility: Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars is not compatible with Palm Tungsten T and Tungsten T2, Sony CLIÉ UX40, UX50 and VZ90. It’;s also not compatible with low resolution (160×160) Palm OS® devices such as: Zire 21, Zire 31, Z22, Tréo 600, or QVGA (240×320) Palm OS® devices such as: Qool QDA 700 and the PiTech W300.

Pocket PC Compatibility: The game comes in two versions, one for Windows Mobile 2003 and the other for Windows Mobile 5. Be sure to get the right one.