.
Right, so it's been months. Lots of months. Life's been busy. I moved out, got married, been workin' on some other things. Wait! Yep, you read that last one right - I got married. On January 27th at 2:00pm Douglas Bruce Noël and Elizabeth Kaye Estes were married. We eloped. ;-) So far things are goin' great. I fly down tonight to be with my wife at her family's house before we drive back up tomorrow.
In computer-related news, I've gotten a Palm III from 3-Com. I found this RPG for it called Kyle's Quest. It's very cool, and I'm currently creating my own level entitiled Squire's Quest for it. I've made and uploaded some custom tiles for it. Some of them are located for download to the left.
Well, I hate to cut this one short - I know it's been a while, but I've got to run to the bank. Maybe I'll have some new stuff up o the site soon. In the meantime, check out Gamestorm - they pay my bills! You can now sign up for a FREE account! All they ask for is an e-mail address!!! Can't beat that!
Signing Off…
Doug :)
9/7/98
It's Labor Day! And of course what am I doing? Laboring! Yup, I've spent the entire day at work. Hey, it's overtime! As I floated through Tripod's website to my page, I noticed that they have once again updated their look. Well, it's better than the puce green guys… Keep trying, I think you're almost there.
I've gotten a promotion at work, and am now a test lead! That means that I'm in charge of making sure certain games get tested. It's kinda cool. I'm in charge of Classic Cards, Poker, and Backgammon. The coolest thing though, is a new game called Fierce Harmony by Indigo Moon. I'm the lead tester of this new game, and am in fact one of the few people outside of I-Magic who has played the game so far. Take a look. It looks like it's gonna be pretty cool.
What else? Not much. Life goes on. Just watched JFK the other night. Pretty darn good movie. I suggest taking a look if you haven't seen it. Especially if you're a Grisham fan. Even if you're not, it's still a powerful movie. Don't let your kids watch the director's cut though folks.
Whelp, an update in what, two weeks? Not too shabby… Maybe I can keep this up, we'll just have to see. While I'm throwing gratuitous links up here, take a look at 7th Legion, a new game by Epic Megagames. Looks pretty k-nifty. I also suggest taking a look at the new X-Wing Collector's Series boxed game. Purdy cool stuff…
That's all for now. Tune in next time when I ramble on about something totally new and useless…
Doug :)
8/24/98
What, an update? I thought you had abandoned your page Doug? Well, not quite... I guess you could say that summer got busy for me and my web page fell by the wayside... Getting a job at a computer company might've had something to do with that, I dunno... As much as I love computers, after 8 hours of staring at a computer screen, I'm ready to do something else.
So what have I been up to? Well let's see... I've done a lot of reading over the past months, and if you were to average it out I read a book every other day. The books generally ranged from 300 to 1,000 pages, and probably averaged about 400 pages apiece. It's the most I've read in a LONG time. Um... I was also involved with the Sonflower Festival, a Christian Music Festival here in Staunton VA. In fact, I had the dubious honor of being the chairman of the Sonflower committee.
I also spent some time this summer visiting various Christian music festivals, including Atlanta Fest and Creation. Just today I finished reading a book which compares the main religions of the world, focusing on Christianity. The reading came about because of some young Methodists who said they thought it would be cool if I could be their youth leader. Being a Lutheran my immediate response was, "It'd be nice, but I'm a Lutheran." In reading this book, What's the Difference: A Comparison of the Faiths Men Live By, by Louis Cassels, I found that there are not that many differences as I originally thought - which is actually quite a pleasing revelation to me. Specifically the Methodist church was founded by John Wesley, who's revelations came about upon hearing words penned by Martin Luther - the founder of the Lutheran church.
At any rate, I am again updating my page, and depending on the response, may or may not continue to do so...
6/5/98
Yup, I’m almost a week late in my update, but since I got only one complaint, what can I do? It’s been a very busy work week. Get up at 4:30, go to be at midnight. You know, that kinda thing. A lot’s happened in the almost two weeks since I updated my page. The most important is that I have a new job!!!
As some of you may know, at the moment I put above ground pools in the ground. In another week, I will be working for Kesmai Corporation, a computer game company which makes mass multiplayer games. In addition to making games for CompuServe, AOL and others Kesmai has their own internet-based games platform named .
Okay, so what am I doing? Well, I’ll be a game tester. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I have a new job playing computer games. It truly is a miraculous thing, and I am very happy about it. :) Wouldn’t you be? ;-)
Other than that, there’s nothing new on my pages I do not believe... I do however have a new e-mail address. It’s dougnoel@compuserve.com. My old address, 75264.1606@compuserve.com also still works! :-) I think that’s all for this week, but since I’ll (hopefully be updating my page in two more days, come back and check it out! :-)
Look on the bright side: It’s up there!
5/24/98
Well a new record has been set as of this update! I’m updating my page a day early! (Or a few hours anyway... :) This week’s highlights include a new writing entitled Leeroy & LeeRoy’s Grammar Review. It’s um... weird. You’ll just have to read it. :) I’ve also changed the buttons in the upper right-hand corner - I’ve made them a tad bit smaller. The better to accomodate small browser windows. Isn’t that nice of me? :) I really am curious what people’s first impression of my page is. So e-mail me at 75264.1606@compuserve.com. I know I’ll appreciate it. :) Speaking of my e-mail address, I may be getting one of those namy type ones from compuserve. Join the modern world and all don’t cha know?
Well, I’ve been thinking about my page layout, and personally I think it sucks - so I’m wanting to reorganize it. Unfortunately, when you’re using five different servers and each one has twenty or more files on it, it becomes very cumbersome to consolidate them all... What to do? I dunno quite yet. At first I had each page divided into different worlds. This is currently how my pages are (loosely) organized. My second thought was a topical organization, which is where the navigation bar you see up above (which should appear in black letters incidently) came from. The problem is, it became less topical and more RPG oriented. So... here is my idea for a newer, better Doug’s World... My pages will be divided into the following categories:
Oh yeah, and as you can see, my counter just hit 1,000 not too long ago. Not too bad in a year's time... : )
Doug’s World - 100% homegrown web pages.
5/20/98
New record: Wednesday update. Oh well... I’ve been working 10 hour plus days, and today is the first time I’ve gotten home before 9pm. I only worked 12 hours today, I was done at seven or so. :) Being a master procrastinator of course, I always have an excuse, but anyway... :)
Skating was fun, and yes Elizabeth I’m still going to the concert even though I haven’t ordered the tickets. : ) (I’ll get them! :-) Yup, yup I’m going to Atlanta Fest for three days, even though some of the people who were GOING to go with me pooped out. Peter’s still going with me though, so it should be fun. : ) Hi Nate! (Wasn’t that random? :)
As always, the updates are slim, but I got numerous new books on computer programming, so if I get anything out of these two VBScript books those of you with Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 and higher might see some pretty cool stuff, like online applications. :) Since I can’t figure out how to do it regular VB, (which I’m getting soon! :) I’ll do it t’other way. :) My new RPG page is still only a week and a half old (and probably pretty crappy looking.) The Alternity review I wrote is still there too. Seems like I wrote that a week ago. Actually it seems like a lifetime, but anyway...
My birthday was the 20th, and I treated myself to some new books. I got two on VBScript, two on making your own Win 95 computer games (in C++, which although I know the language - wouldn’t you know it - I don’t have a compiler...), one on intelligent software agents (ie, Artificial Intelligence or little software robots:), and another on graphics (a really BIG one on graphics... :). The book on software agents will mean I can construct my own internet searcher buggers to find info like how to use combo boxes in VB without spending lots of my precious time trying to figure it out! Anyhoo...
I think that’s it for this week. Stay tuned next week when I ramble on about something totally new. I’m also looking into free chat rooms. I don’t know why, but oh well... :)
5/12/98
Yup, well I missed my second update now, and in a row too... C’est la vie... I was plumbing and just lost track of time I guess! :-) I moved our washing machine in the laundry room from one wall to another. The soldering job isn’t the greatest, but it’s not the worst either. Hey, I’m free labor so nobody can complain. :)
Speaking of things I’m doing in my life, I’m going to a concert! Not just any concert mind you. I’m going to Atlanta Fest! A four day Christian music festival extravaganza. I’m alos eating at Chili’s. :) (Don’t ask.) In other news, I’m going skating tonight (you really care, right?) and it should be a fun and interesting experience. When isn’t life!? :)
Um... I have lots of grandiose plans for updating my page. We’ll see what I get in today. You may notice some rearranging here - that is, if you've been here before. :) I've got two new pages, my RPG page on tripod and a review I wrote for the Alternity game system by TSR.
In other interesting news, the joining of the Tripod Pods has actually garnered me a handful of visitors who have e-mailed me! Will wonders never cease?
In the programming world I’ve been fooling around with my VB Control Creation Edition compiler and can’t figure how in the world you get drop-down combo boxes to respond to selection events. It’s really bugging me, so if you know - drop me a line, please! Of course at the moment the stumping doesn’t bother me, ‘cause I don’t have a real friggin’ compiler! But someday I will, and then... :)
Before I try the ftp route once again, (Been there, done that, t-shirt, yada, yada.) I’m going to attempt downloading Netscape for free. Heard that the $30 price tag for the editor, etc. is only for people dumb enough to buy it (like I almost was.) I’m going to find out the truth of that today, and more! So stay tuned for the latest breaking news on my part, and we’ll see what happens!
Oh yeah, and next Monday is my 20th brithday, so don't hold your breath for an update then either. Then again, I may start feeling industrious... :-)
5/5/98
I’m late! I’m late! For a very important update! Okay, well maybe not, but still this is the first update I’ve missed since I started doing this. It was a busy day yesterday. I had finals at school, and ended up running into a friend I haven’t seen since last year sometime. :) But I’m here now, so it’s okay... (Phew!)
Well, so let’s see . . . what updates happened last week? Well, I think I managed to slow down the loading time of my web page once again by putting in a cute little table which displays the 9 (count ‘em: Nine) pods I joined last week. For those of you (like me) who don’t know what a pod is, it’s a little online community for tripod members. They’re pretty cool. :) I suggest checking out the Freebies Pod if you like to get free stuff of any kind. :-) Another unrelated link is Quadzilla, which seems to be a pretty darn cool site for learning html. Being the selfish guy I am, this link opens in a separate window. :) But then, I don’t usually link off my page anyway...
Oh! My page also now has a motto:
Speaking of programming languages, I’m hoping to get a visual basic compiler for my brithday (which is coming up in two weeks.) Then I might be uploading some sort of useful programs that other people can use... :-) I’m also hoping to get Netscape with the little webpage builder thingy, which would be really nice. Not only would I stop getting those damn javascript errors every time any of the free web services tries to open a little extra window, but I’d have a REAL web browser!!! Wow...
In other news, my links to the left may look a little different. As proud as I am of my Fried Chicken story, it’s time for a new link... My profile now resides there instead. Oh, and my Pods pics are being moved for the moment until I either get them sorted out or get all the logos in my member directory, ‘cause they’re taking way too long to load...
That’s all for this week! Join me next week, when I’ll complain about the slowness and awkwardability of ftp... ;-)
4/20/98
Once again, not much new is here. I've been saying that a lot recently, haven't I? I think it stems from my inability to finish anything. At any rate, I've got a wonderful little Babylon 5 to Palladium games conversion in the works. (Which means nothing to non-roleplayers.) Other than that, as I mentioned last week, my profile is up there waiting to be clicked on. (There's a special link for my friend Chelsea, just so she wont miss my awful pic. :-P Hope you like it dear! :-)
Oh yeah, that road trip I mentioned last week? Well, it's happening sooner than I anticipated. My mom's getting a new car, from my grandfather, in southern florida. So guess who gets to take a train down there and drive the 1,000+ miles back up? You guessed it! Yours truly! So I get to do that road trip sooner than anticipated. (Why couldn't you be in Georgia NOW Nate!?!?!?)
I just uploaded my first page of the Babylon 5 conversion, and I'm putting it here on Tripod so I can join their RPG Pod. I dunno if I actually need to do that, but I did! Of course, the links to all my other pages can be found on the navigation bar above, but for those interested, here's the page on converting attributes from The Babylon Project role playing game into attributes for the PAlladium Books game system(s). Hope someone enjoys them...
Babylon 5 to Palladium Conversion Rules
That's it for now. I have a Psych test to take today! Yippee!! (Can't you hear the sarcasm?) Oh yeah, I got a new job! I quit my old job at 12:30 this morning and said syonara!! (Or however you spell it!) I'm hoping that I'll be installing new aboveground pools for people soon! Well, that's REALLY all for now. I gotta test to take...
4/13/98
Well, I've again done virtually nil to my page. What else is new? I've got the instructions for creating frames halfway done. I'm looking for links to cool stuff for my How To page, and generally wishing I had more sleep. Life's goin' good, classes are almost over, and I'm planning on having fun this summer. (Can anyone say, "Road trip!")
Anyway, nothin's goin' down. Deal.
P.S. Well, I did add one new things. Read my profile if you care. :)
4/6/98
Nothing new this week, I don't think, other than my glorious RED background!!! What do you think? How do you like it? I think it's pretty nifty myself. I've also used Cascading Style Sheets to eliminate the underlines from this page! Have you noticed? If not, try again with a newer browser.
Life was busy last week, so I haven't managed many things, but I'm planning to write instructions on how to use frames for my friend Joshua. (You can get to his page, Bisquick land from my links page.) Other than that, we'll just see how much time I have. The week before Easter is a busy time of year for me.
Oh, and I forgot something I did back a while ago. I changed all my external links (i.e., any links that aren't to something I did, to open in new browser windows. Pretty cool, huh? :) I liked it anyway. . . A quick note on the list below. Those people more observant may have noticed that the bulleted list below has three different colored bullets. Green is for finished projects, yellow is for projects in progress, and red is for projects I ain't gotten around to yet. I'm thinking of replacing them all with blue marbles, just because I think it would look cooler. :)
3/30/98
Hey, I'm trying something new...well, at least new for me! Weekly Updates! Now before anyone gets too excited, all this means is that I'll put some wandering drivel at the top of this page about what I've done over the past week. Plus any other wandering thoughts I have at the time of writing…
If you look to your left, you will (hopefully) see four cute little buttons which will take you to my contents/index page, my newly moved links page, my guestbook (which I call my worldbook) and a little link for e-mailing me. As if that weren't enough, if you look above this paragraph, and at the bottom of this page, you will see two Java banners!
Yes folks, I have indeed for the very first time managed to use java script. If you can't see, 'em tough. The top banner links to my new FREE web builder's page. The other one goes to my Shadowrun Web Page and promises things I haven't got up and running yet... Oh well...
Other than that I've been diddle-farting with my links page, and generally moving directories around. If you linked to any of my pictures instead of downloading them (you lousy losers) then the links are pretty much all dead. Serves ya right. If you linked to any of my other pages, you may also find that some of my pages have moved to subdirectories. Most notably, all my writings…
So, that's about it... I think. I'm gonna be revamping my Vulcanus page to detail it more, and hopefully some other things. Oh, and I now officially HIGHLY DISLIKE Geocities because I can't do anything at all to edit my web pages…so if that doesn't clear up soon, I'll be moving my roleplaying pages somewhere else…maybe WBS, I just got a new account with them... At any rate, that's all for now…
Removed 4/27/98
P.S. I also dislike Angelfire right now. Both Angelfire and Geocities are way too slow . . . Speaking of slow, you may notice that the SR banner is gone. It's now located on my contents page (for the moment.)
P.P.S. Oh, and thanks to Matthew for pointing out all those broken links and stuff he didn't like. I'm glad somebody does... You too David!
Removed 9/7/98
P.P.P.S. The last time I officailly updated this page was exactly three months ago... Wow does time fly...