I recently saw the documentary Fastball. In the film, Bob Gibson mentions that his reputation as someone who would plunk players to intimidate them wasn't quite as warranted as it was. He then mentions that if you look at the numbers, he never hit as many players as people thought he did.
So I looked at his plunking numbers compared to some other random Hall of Famers, and this one blew me away.
Bob Gibson - 102 HBP, 0.02626 HBP per inning.
Greg Maddux - 137 HBP, 0.02736 HBP per inning.
Greg Maddux, who was well regarded as one of the best control pitchers in baseball history, hit more players per inning than Bob Gibson in his career.
Of course baseball was different when Maddux played and some believe that players crowd the plate more in modern times. Here's some random Hall of Fame contemporaries to compare Bob Gibson to, sorted by HBP per inning:
Sandy Koufax - 18 HBP, 0.00775 HBP per inning
Jim Palmer - 38 HBP, 0.00963 HBP per inning
Steve Carlton - 53 HBP, 0.01016 HBP per inning
Juan Marichal - 40 HBP, 0.01141 HBP per inning.
Catfish Hunter - 49 HBP, 0.01421 HBP per inning
Don Sutton - 82 HBP, 0.01552 HBP per inning
Tom Seaver - 75 HBP, 0.01589 HBP per inning
Ferguson Jenkins - 84 HBP, 0.01867 HBP per inning.
Gaylord Perry - 108 HBP, 0.02019 HBP per inning
Phil Niekro - 123 HBP, 0.02276 HBP per inning
Hoyt Wilhelm - 62 HBP, 0.02751 HBP per inning
Nolan Ryan - 158 HBP, 0.02934 HBP per inning
Bert Blyleven - 155 HBP, 0.03119 HBP per inning
Don Drysdale - 154 HBP, 0.04487 HBP per inning
So while Gibson is on the higher end of this mini survey, it does
seem his reputation as an intimidating plunker may not be as warranted
as it is.
While skimming through Hall of Famers, I did find it interesting how many plunks some recent Hall of Famers had.
Randy Johnson - 190 HBP, 0.04595 HBP per inning
Pedro Martinez - 141 HBP, 0.04988 HBP per inning
These were the highest by far of all the players I looked at.
Friday, May 19, 2017
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Dinner @ Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, CA
So after years of having it as my #1 restaurant to try (my prior #1 was Benu, which I hit up in 2014), I was finally able to hit up Atelier Crenn in San Francisco for my birthday.
Atelier Crenn is one of the most unique restaurants in the area. There is no menu presented, the chef instead provides a poem in which each line of the poem represents a dish. It was sort of fun to try and guess what was coming. For example, "black pearls" in the poem was somewhat obviously going to be caviar, but we were completely wrong guessing what "blue umami" was. We also were presented with a "menu" of random pictures representing some dessert dishes.
Atelier Crenn has recently got a lot of attention that made me think I wasn't going to dine at this restaurant for awhile. It recently got ranked as a top 100 restaurant in the world (#83 as of this writing), the head chef Dominique Crenn was named best female chef in the world in 2016. On top of all that, she was recently featured in an episode of Chef's Table on Netflix. Perhaps knowing of her celebrity status, she came by to great each guest at their table which was nice.
My girlfriend somehow got me a spot for my birthday. So here's what we got. Given the menu is written as a poem and pictures, I'm just going to write the ingredients in the dishes as it was told to us in a printed menu after the meal.
1) Amuse Bouche
So first up was this presentation with the poem menu. It also includes the first course which was some dehydrated leaves coated in olive oil (the big green one, not the flowers). I can't remember what plant it came from. Overall, interesting. I suppose this one is mostly for presentation.
2) Kir Breton
This is apparently a signature dish of the restaurant. I didn't know this, but kir breton is a drink made with apple cider and creme de cassis. Apparently creme de cassis is a currant based liqueur.
So clearly this is a reinterpretation. The apple cider is liquid inside a white chocolate mold and the creme de cassis has been made into a jam of sorts on top. Overall, an interesting tasty dish with an explosion of apple cider in one bite.
3) Citrus, Golden Trout Roe, Black Truffle
The next course was two things. The "main" was the crisp with smoked trout roe and some type of black truffle cream/sauce. Really really good. One of my favorites in the meal.
The second was a small salad of herbs, multiple types of citrus (including a mandarin slice), something citrus gelatin, and something truffle-ish. Overall quite tasty. I was a little surprised by this dish, as it seemed somewhat "normal" given the restaurant's reputation for such whimsical dishes. But I suppose it served as a palette cleanser of sorts for the next course.
4) Fish & Chip
This was a "fish and chips" re-interpretation of sorts. On the top, was a single byte of trout with a sauce (can't remember, might have just been creme fraiche) On the bottom is a re-interpretation of "chips". I believe it was some type of potato with seaweed powder on top. The trout was really really good, it was definitely cured in some manner and the skin gave it a nice crisp texture difference. I can't remember much about the chips.
5) Koshihikari Rice, Sea Urchin, Barigoule
This was a really interesting dish. Crisp koshihikari rice, uni, in a white wine broth (which I guess is the barigoule). The broth was delicious. The rice was on the crispy side, which was interesting as it really contrasted with the uni. The uni appeared to have been cooked a little bit, so it was a bit softer than I normally think of uni. In fact, I think it's the first time I've ever had uni cooked (discounting when it's turned into a sauce or something similar). Overall, the flavors were good but I think the rice was too crispy and too contrasting to the uni.
6) Caviar, Turnip, Koji
Next up was the caviar course. I can't remember what sauces were served with the caviar, but one was something seaweed-ish. Perhaps the other was the "koji". The daikon was also served as sort of a texture/palette difference between bites of caviar. Overall, creamy, flavorful, lots of deliciousness.
7) Abalone, Roasted Garlic, Oyster Cream
This was probably my favorite course of the night and probably the best abalone I've ever had. The abalone was soft and not chewy, so I think left a little uncooked. It was coated in some (I believe) seaweed dust and had some additional sauces on it (can't remember, perhaps it's the "Roasted Garlic"). The main white sauce was an oyster cream and the yellow was something egg related. Overall, tons of flavors, tons of umami, just delicious.
8) Morrel, Pine Nut, Parmesan Custard
Next up was another duo of dishes. In the middle was some morrel mushrooms with a bit of parmesan melted on top. If you've read anything else on my blog, you know I hate mushrooms. However, morrel mushrooms get a pass because their texture is so far different from your normal/average mushrooms. And I have to say, these mushrooms were really juicy, flavorful, and delicious. The staff said they foraged these from the area.
In between bites of mushroom, there was a light parmesan custard with some pine nuts and creme fraiche balls. Also good, although the morrels were better.
9) A-5 Wagyu, Foraged Spring Herbs, Carrot Veil
My girlfriend's first thought when she saw this dish is it reminded her of the eggplant dish we had at Narisawa. Both in the presentation with foraged flowers and an agar sheet on top (the "carrot veil", which may be hard to see unless you zoom in). Some chicken jus was plated at the table.
My first thought was that this chunk of wagyu was way bigger than what I normally get at Michelin star restaurants. It was certainly more than Oriole or Californios, probably twice as much if not a little more than that.
Overall, this was delicious. Perhaps the best wagyu I've ever had. It had a bit more "firmness" than other A-5 wagyu I've had. I'm not sure if it's due to it being a different cut from the cow or if it's simply the thickness of this cut. Sometimes wagyu can be so fatty and soft that it almost doesn't feel like you're eating meat. So that little bit of extra firmness really made this great.
10) Cow's Milk Cheese, Quince, Onion Marmalade
So this was a supplemental course for $25 (includes tip) which seems a tad pricey for a supplemental cheese course. Well, when in Rome ...
Overall, quite tasty with the quince. I believe asparagus was on top to give the grid pattern, but don't know that I actually tasted much of it. Overall, quite tasty.
11) Nopal Elixir
Before all the desserts came out we got this palette cleanser drink. I remember it contained atleast three juices, of which the only two I remember were cucumber and cactus. Overall, refreshing and tasty.
12) White Chocolate Avocado Cremeux
This was the surprise of the night. It's a single byte chocolate with a liquid in it. It's a combination of avocado and chocolate, which I would not have thought would go well together, but it really did. Add in the molded face in the chocolate, and it's definitely the most interesting and delicious dessert (and perhaps course) of the night.
13) Masa Crisp
An interesting dessert that was corn themed. A chocolate on top, some corn chips, and corn-marshmallow in the middle. Tasty and interesting, corn for dessert is not the first thing you think about and it took some time to process after the first bite.
14) Frozen Shaved Cacao Fruit
So this was another really interesting dish, it's the "fruit" part of a cacao plant. We're of course used to eating the beans of cacao plants for chocolate. I wasn't even aware the rest of the plant was even edible. Apparently it was frozen and then lightly shaved to give it a "shaved ice" kind of texture. Some hibiscus tea was poured on top. The first few bytes of this dish reminded me of lychee flavor. It's not exactly the same, but there were similar hints of the flavor. Overall, a really interesting and tasty dessert dish.
15) Carmelized Honey, Sapote Ice Cream, Maracuya
This dessert was honey themed. I've never had sapote before so no real comments on the flavor. Overall, I recall the flavor as more mild than other desserts.
16) Vanilla Bean Guanabana Fruit, Crystallized Tobacco Leaf
Next up was this fake vanilla bean with guanabana fruit liquid/cream in the middle of chocolate. I'd never had guanabana before, but it was really tangy. Very good. The crystallized tobacoo leaf was interesting, as I don't think I've ever had tobacco leaf before. In the middle of the table, some liquid nitrogen was poured into a dish with vanilla to give the essence of vanilla in the presentation.
17) Recreation of Agave, Coconut, Iced Sotol
Finally we had this agave & coconut flavored dessert. I think the green on the right was meant to recreate an agave plant and the white mound on the middle was coconut flavored cake of sorts. The iced Sotol (I think basically tequilla) was put on top. Overall, I liked the coconut flavored part of the dessert the most, not sure if the icey sotol added much.
Now that we're done with the desserts, I think I'll mention that I really like how they are so different. We have a drink, chocolate liquidy thing, a crispy tortilla thing, an shaved-ice thing, an ice cream thing, whatever the vanilla bean counts as, and this cake-like thing (which is perhaps the most normal of the six). So many different textures and flavors and ways to do desserts makes it all really fun and interesting and might be the best dessert experience I've had in my Michelin star dining experiences.
18) Mignardises, Chocolate
Can't remember everything but the two on the left were chocolate, then a peanut-ish crisp, and peach pate de fruit. I really liked the peanut crisp. I actually dislike peanuts as a flavor in general, but this one was lighter in flavor and very light.
19) "Spanish Coin"
This isn't on the menu, the staff brought this out as an extra for my birthday. It's a "spanish coin" ice cream sandwich of sorts, with more gold leaf than any other dish I think I've ever had before. Overall good, but can't remember much as we were getting towards the end of the meal.
20) Granola Bar
This was a granola bar to go. Ate it for breakfast the next day. Definitely better than the Nature's Valley junk I normally eat. There were raisins, almonds, and a ton of honey.
Overall the meal took about 2.5 hours. Unlike some other restaurants, I left satisfyingly full. To be honest, we were quite full after the main courses and were a tad worried about dessert over-stuffing us. However, the desserts were mostly "small" items except the last one, so we didn't feel like we were getting overly stuffed at any point.
Overall, Atelier Crenn definitely met its hype. A ton of interesting and delicious dishes all around. I'm debating where I put this meal in my overall rankings, but it's definitely in the top 3 meals I've ever had. I'm still debating in my head how it ranks against Benu and Narisawa.
Atelier Crenn is one of the most unique restaurants in the area. There is no menu presented, the chef instead provides a poem in which each line of the poem represents a dish. It was sort of fun to try and guess what was coming. For example, "black pearls" in the poem was somewhat obviously going to be caviar, but we were completely wrong guessing what "blue umami" was. We also were presented with a "menu" of random pictures representing some dessert dishes.
Atelier Crenn has recently got a lot of attention that made me think I wasn't going to dine at this restaurant for awhile. It recently got ranked as a top 100 restaurant in the world (#83 as of this writing), the head chef Dominique Crenn was named best female chef in the world in 2016. On top of all that, she was recently featured in an episode of Chef's Table on Netflix. Perhaps knowing of her celebrity status, she came by to great each guest at their table which was nice.
My girlfriend somehow got me a spot for my birthday. So here's what we got. Given the menu is written as a poem and pictures, I'm just going to write the ingredients in the dishes as it was told to us in a printed menu after the meal.
1) Amuse Bouche
So first up was this presentation with the poem menu. It also includes the first course which was some dehydrated leaves coated in olive oil (the big green one, not the flowers). I can't remember what plant it came from. Overall, interesting. I suppose this one is mostly for presentation.
2) Kir Breton
This is apparently a signature dish of the restaurant. I didn't know this, but kir breton is a drink made with apple cider and creme de cassis. Apparently creme de cassis is a currant based liqueur.
So clearly this is a reinterpretation. The apple cider is liquid inside a white chocolate mold and the creme de cassis has been made into a jam of sorts on top. Overall, an interesting tasty dish with an explosion of apple cider in one bite.
3) Citrus, Golden Trout Roe, Black Truffle
The next course was two things. The "main" was the crisp with smoked trout roe and some type of black truffle cream/sauce. Really really good. One of my favorites in the meal.
The second was a small salad of herbs, multiple types of citrus (including a mandarin slice), something citrus gelatin, and something truffle-ish. Overall quite tasty. I was a little surprised by this dish, as it seemed somewhat "normal" given the restaurant's reputation for such whimsical dishes. But I suppose it served as a palette cleanser of sorts for the next course.
4) Fish & Chip
This was a "fish and chips" re-interpretation of sorts. On the top, was a single byte of trout with a sauce (can't remember, might have just been creme fraiche) On the bottom is a re-interpretation of "chips". I believe it was some type of potato with seaweed powder on top. The trout was really really good, it was definitely cured in some manner and the skin gave it a nice crisp texture difference. I can't remember much about the chips.
5) Koshihikari Rice, Sea Urchin, Barigoule
This was a really interesting dish. Crisp koshihikari rice, uni, in a white wine broth (which I guess is the barigoule). The broth was delicious. The rice was on the crispy side, which was interesting as it really contrasted with the uni. The uni appeared to have been cooked a little bit, so it was a bit softer than I normally think of uni. In fact, I think it's the first time I've ever had uni cooked (discounting when it's turned into a sauce or something similar). Overall, the flavors were good but I think the rice was too crispy and too contrasting to the uni.
6) Caviar, Turnip, Koji
Next up was the caviar course. I can't remember what sauces were served with the caviar, but one was something seaweed-ish. Perhaps the other was the "koji". The daikon was also served as sort of a texture/palette difference between bites of caviar. Overall, creamy, flavorful, lots of deliciousness.
7) Abalone, Roasted Garlic, Oyster Cream
This was probably my favorite course of the night and probably the best abalone I've ever had. The abalone was soft and not chewy, so I think left a little uncooked. It was coated in some (I believe) seaweed dust and had some additional sauces on it (can't remember, perhaps it's the "Roasted Garlic"). The main white sauce was an oyster cream and the yellow was something egg related. Overall, tons of flavors, tons of umami, just delicious.
8) Morrel, Pine Nut, Parmesan Custard
Next up was another duo of dishes. In the middle was some morrel mushrooms with a bit of parmesan melted on top. If you've read anything else on my blog, you know I hate mushrooms. However, morrel mushrooms get a pass because their texture is so far different from your normal/average mushrooms. And I have to say, these mushrooms were really juicy, flavorful, and delicious. The staff said they foraged these from the area.
In between bites of mushroom, there was a light parmesan custard with some pine nuts and creme fraiche balls. Also good, although the morrels were better.
9) A-5 Wagyu, Foraged Spring Herbs, Carrot Veil
My girlfriend's first thought when she saw this dish is it reminded her of the eggplant dish we had at Narisawa. Both in the presentation with foraged flowers and an agar sheet on top (the "carrot veil", which may be hard to see unless you zoom in). Some chicken jus was plated at the table.
My first thought was that this chunk of wagyu was way bigger than what I normally get at Michelin star restaurants. It was certainly more than Oriole or Californios, probably twice as much if not a little more than that.
Overall, this was delicious. Perhaps the best wagyu I've ever had. It had a bit more "firmness" than other A-5 wagyu I've had. I'm not sure if it's due to it being a different cut from the cow or if it's simply the thickness of this cut. Sometimes wagyu can be so fatty and soft that it almost doesn't feel like you're eating meat. So that little bit of extra firmness really made this great.
10) Cow's Milk Cheese, Quince, Onion Marmalade
So this was a supplemental course for $25 (includes tip) which seems a tad pricey for a supplemental cheese course. Well, when in Rome ...
Overall, quite tasty with the quince. I believe asparagus was on top to give the grid pattern, but don't know that I actually tasted much of it. Overall, quite tasty.
11) Nopal Elixir
Before all the desserts came out we got this palette cleanser drink. I remember it contained atleast three juices, of which the only two I remember were cucumber and cactus. Overall, refreshing and tasty.
12) White Chocolate Avocado Cremeux
This was the surprise of the night. It's a single byte chocolate with a liquid in it. It's a combination of avocado and chocolate, which I would not have thought would go well together, but it really did. Add in the molded face in the chocolate, and it's definitely the most interesting and delicious dessert (and perhaps course) of the night.
13) Masa Crisp
An interesting dessert that was corn themed. A chocolate on top, some corn chips, and corn-marshmallow in the middle. Tasty and interesting, corn for dessert is not the first thing you think about and it took some time to process after the first bite.
14) Frozen Shaved Cacao Fruit
So this was another really interesting dish, it's the "fruit" part of a cacao plant. We're of course used to eating the beans of cacao plants for chocolate. I wasn't even aware the rest of the plant was even edible. Apparently it was frozen and then lightly shaved to give it a "shaved ice" kind of texture. Some hibiscus tea was poured on top. The first few bytes of this dish reminded me of lychee flavor. It's not exactly the same, but there were similar hints of the flavor. Overall, a really interesting and tasty dessert dish.
15) Carmelized Honey, Sapote Ice Cream, Maracuya
This dessert was honey themed. I've never had sapote before so no real comments on the flavor. Overall, I recall the flavor as more mild than other desserts.
16) Vanilla Bean Guanabana Fruit, Crystallized Tobacco Leaf
Next up was this fake vanilla bean with guanabana fruit liquid/cream in the middle of chocolate. I'd never had guanabana before, but it was really tangy. Very good. The crystallized tobacoo leaf was interesting, as I don't think I've ever had tobacco leaf before. In the middle of the table, some liquid nitrogen was poured into a dish with vanilla to give the essence of vanilla in the presentation.
17) Recreation of Agave, Coconut, Iced Sotol
Finally we had this agave & coconut flavored dessert. I think the green on the right was meant to recreate an agave plant and the white mound on the middle was coconut flavored cake of sorts. The iced Sotol (I think basically tequilla) was put on top. Overall, I liked the coconut flavored part of the dessert the most, not sure if the icey sotol added much.
Now that we're done with the desserts, I think I'll mention that I really like how they are so different. We have a drink, chocolate liquidy thing, a crispy tortilla thing, an shaved-ice thing, an ice cream thing, whatever the vanilla bean counts as, and this cake-like thing (which is perhaps the most normal of the six). So many different textures and flavors and ways to do desserts makes it all really fun and interesting and might be the best dessert experience I've had in my Michelin star dining experiences.
18) Mignardises, Chocolate
Can't remember everything but the two on the left were chocolate, then a peanut-ish crisp, and peach pate de fruit. I really liked the peanut crisp. I actually dislike peanuts as a flavor in general, but this one was lighter in flavor and very light.
19) "Spanish Coin"
This isn't on the menu, the staff brought this out as an extra for my birthday. It's a "spanish coin" ice cream sandwich of sorts, with more gold leaf than any other dish I think I've ever had before. Overall good, but can't remember much as we were getting towards the end of the meal.
20) Granola Bar
This was a granola bar to go. Ate it for breakfast the next day. Definitely better than the Nature's Valley junk I normally eat. There were raisins, almonds, and a ton of honey.
Overall the meal took about 2.5 hours. Unlike some other restaurants, I left satisfyingly full. To be honest, we were quite full after the main courses and were a tad worried about dessert over-stuffing us. However, the desserts were mostly "small" items except the last one, so we didn't feel like we were getting overly stuffed at any point.
Overall, Atelier Crenn definitely met its hype. A ton of interesting and delicious dishes all around. I'm debating where I put this meal in my overall rankings, but it's definitely in the top 3 meals I've ever had. I'm still debating in my head how it ranks against Benu and Narisawa.
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Mass Effect: Andromeda - Criticisms
I just finished up Mass Effect: Andromeda. The game has gotten notably bad press over some aspects of the game. For a series that got stellar reviews on the prior generation of platforms (on gamerankings across all platforms, about 90% for Mass Effect, 94% for Mass Effect 2, and about 90% for Mass Effect 3) the reviews on newer platforms for Mass Effect: Andromeda have been quite bad (74% on Xbox, 69% on PS4).
Here are some things I think were bad about the game. Some simple changes could have made the experience far better. Needless to say ...
SPOILER WARNINGS
SPOILER WARNINGS
SPOILER WARNINGS
1) Unable to skip cutscenes
Perhaps my biggest irritation was the inability to skip pre-generated cutscenes and the general horrible "flow" of completing quests. For example, lets say you've just completed a mission and need to fly back to the Nexus to talk to someone to complete the quest. You have to
A) somehow get to the Tempest (via extraction via Nomad or going to ship, whatever)
B) watch an unskippable pre-generated cutscene flying off planet
C) goto planetary controls
D) zoom out from your current planet
E) select the solar system the Nexus is on
F) watch an unskippable cutscene flying over to the solar system
G) select the planet the Nexus is near
H) watch an unskippable cutscene flying over to the planet
I) select that you want to dock at the Nexus
J) watch a pre-generated cutscene fying into the Nexus
K) do whatever you wanted to do on the Nexus
L) When you leave, watch another pre-generated cutscene leaving
The 5 unskippable cutscenes just makes the entire process tedious and horrible.
Why could you just fast travel to the Nexus or any number of planets with a single selection? It would have helped the "flow" a lot better. It would have easily made the game a lot better.
(Update: After a patch update you can skip the cutscene in 'H' ... but that's only 1 cutscene you can skip).
1-A) Bad "flow" in the game
Related to the above. There were many "flow" parts of the game that were just annoying. The tiniest things could have made it better. Kadara is a great example of horrible flow.
Lets say you want to complete a mission that's somewhere on the Kadara wasteland. Take all of the above (replacing Nexus with Kadara), but ...
K-2) select from the terminal you want to travel down to the slums
K-3) walk outside of the slums
K-4) fast travel wherever you need OR call in the Nomad
Why can't you just go to the outside immediately? Why isn't the Nomad just there already?
These are all "flow" issues that make the game more irritating. Some of it always exists, but there was just a little too much of it.
2) Too many "dumb" quests or "fillers"
Every RPG out there has what I typically call "dumb quests". These are quests like fetch quests ("can you fetch me this item") or finding quests ("if you come across these items can you please bring it to me"). Some are typically fine, as it forces/gets the user to explore a bit more than they otherwise might.
However, Andromeda just seemed to be awash in these quests. As an example is the "movie night" quests. Throughout the game your crew wants to throw a movie night. You have to get movies from the Nexus, a bootleg movie from Kadara (BTW, why two movies?), some snacks from somewhere, some booze from somewhere else. Maybe more that I can't remember. Just so everyone can have a movie night. Ugh ...
In Aya, I remember atleast 3 tasks in which a Turian asks you "I can't get into the city, can you buy some stuff for me"? This happens THREE times with the same Turian. Ugh ...
In addition is there was a ton of "dumb exploration". As an example, out of the maybe 30 galaxies in Mass Effect Andromeda, I think only about 10 had missions on them. The vast majority of them are just filler solar systems that you can't explore or do anything except scan for anomalies or minerals. Near the end of the game they introduce about 6 new solar systems to explore. You get a mission in exactly zero of them.
The game could have been much better by limiting this aspect. There was no need to add so much "filler". I'm wondering if DLC is planned down the line to add things todo in all this "filler".
As an example of how much filler there was, the website how long to beat lists the following times to complete everything in the game:
Mass Effect - 44 hours
Mass Effect 2 - 50 hours
Mass Effect 3 - 49 hours
Mass Effect: Andromeda - 93 hours
Yeah ...
3) Bugs
In any major RPG nowadays there will be bugs. I recall a healthy chunk in Fallout 4. However, the bugs in Mass Effect: Andromeda just seemed more annoying or just crossed a threshold of annoying. I generally consider animation bugs tolerable (I recall onetime I walked into a room in the Tempest and simply died by falling into space b/c the floor hadn't been generated).
However, there seemed to be a nice chunk of quest bugs where waypoints weren't set correctly. So I wandered aimlessly for awhile or eventually had to look online for tips.
I also had to restart/reload the game a number of occasions (I recall once the game hanging, I reloaded, and the Nomad had somehow ended up being inside a Vault). A few times is tolerable, but it was more than the normal acceptable level. At some point, you are doing quests and can't complete it, so you just accept "I guess it's just bugged".
4) Constant scanning
I enjoyed the scanning aspect of the game, but there was just too much "look around in this area for the thing you need to look for." At some point you scan all around you hoping for things to go faster.
5) Disappointing end battle
I was disappointed in the end battle. Instead of fighting the archon, you just end up fighting tons of remnant (like you have been doing the entire game) and an architect, which I had already fought 4 times in the game. What about an epic battle with the Archon? IIRC, at some point he says something like "I control all the remnant" ... so perhaps the end battle could have been remnant and him versus your team?
6) Suspension of disbelief
There was a tiny suspension of disbelief problem I had in some elements of the story. I'm completely ignoring the fact that the Angaran learn English nearly instantaneously after initially speaking to you in their native tongue (you just accept it for the game to continue).
At some point while playing I thought to myself, "I'm killing a lot of people." Given that the game was supposed to be about humans and the other Milky Way races escaping the Milky Way to try and make a new home for themselves, it seems odd that I would be killing so many people. I can accept there were "exiles" that left the Nexus, and perhaps I might kill a few here and there. But I'm just killing tons of outcasts, collective, scavengers, traitors, exiles, etc.
The settlement on Elaaden made no sense to me either. If there is no water on the planet, why would anyone even settle there? My bet is that the Mass Effect team thought "We have a planet that's initially too cold to settle, so we also need a planet that's initially too hot to settle."
In addition, why is everyone so violent and willing to steal, kill, and destroy each other? Weren't certain criminal elements vetted properly before traveling to another galaxy? One tiny quest in the game attempts to address this, but it was a bit hard to suspend disbelief.
Conclusion:
Online there are criticisms of the animations, lack of character depth, and story. While maybe not as great a game as some of the earlier Mass Effect games (notably the wonderful Mass Effect 2), I would not pan the game on this alone. Some story elements could have been better (such as the whole "SAM memory triggers" ... what a let down at the finish). It could have been stronger, but it wasn't that big of a deal.
It's all of the little things above that just made the game not as good. Some tiny subtleties in the game flow could have made it much more enjoyable. Making the game a little "smaller" probably would have helped alot by getting rid of a lot of the filler and suspension of disbelief. Add in a little bit better QA and a better boss battle at the end, and it could have easily been a game reviewed in the 80% range instead of 70% range.
Here are some things I think were bad about the game. Some simple changes could have made the experience far better. Needless to say ...
SPOILER WARNINGS
SPOILER WARNINGS
SPOILER WARNINGS
1) Unable to skip cutscenes
Perhaps my biggest irritation was the inability to skip pre-generated cutscenes and the general horrible "flow" of completing quests. For example, lets say you've just completed a mission and need to fly back to the Nexus to talk to someone to complete the quest. You have to
A) somehow get to the Tempest (via extraction via Nomad or going to ship, whatever)
B) watch an unskippable pre-generated cutscene flying off planet
C) goto planetary controls
D) zoom out from your current planet
E) select the solar system the Nexus is on
F) watch an unskippable cutscene flying over to the solar system
G) select the planet the Nexus is near
H) watch an unskippable cutscene flying over to the planet
I) select that you want to dock at the Nexus
J) watch a pre-generated cutscene fying into the Nexus
K) do whatever you wanted to do on the Nexus
L) When you leave, watch another pre-generated cutscene leaving
The 5 unskippable cutscenes just makes the entire process tedious and horrible.
Why could you just fast travel to the Nexus or any number of planets with a single selection? It would have helped the "flow" a lot better. It would have easily made the game a lot better.
(Update: After a patch update you can skip the cutscene in 'H' ... but that's only 1 cutscene you can skip).
1-A) Bad "flow" in the game
Related to the above. There were many "flow" parts of the game that were just annoying. The tiniest things could have made it better. Kadara is a great example of horrible flow.
Lets say you want to complete a mission that's somewhere on the Kadara wasteland. Take all of the above (replacing Nexus with Kadara), but ...
K-2) select from the terminal you want to travel down to the slums
K-3) walk outside of the slums
K-4) fast travel wherever you need OR call in the Nomad
Why can't you just go to the outside immediately? Why isn't the Nomad just there already?
These are all "flow" issues that make the game more irritating. Some of it always exists, but there was just a little too much of it.
2) Too many "dumb" quests or "fillers"
Every RPG out there has what I typically call "dumb quests". These are quests like fetch quests ("can you fetch me this item") or finding quests ("if you come across these items can you please bring it to me"). Some are typically fine, as it forces/gets the user to explore a bit more than they otherwise might.
However, Andromeda just seemed to be awash in these quests. As an example is the "movie night" quests. Throughout the game your crew wants to throw a movie night. You have to get movies from the Nexus, a bootleg movie from Kadara (BTW, why two movies?), some snacks from somewhere, some booze from somewhere else. Maybe more that I can't remember. Just so everyone can have a movie night. Ugh ...
In Aya, I remember atleast 3 tasks in which a Turian asks you "I can't get into the city, can you buy some stuff for me"? This happens THREE times with the same Turian. Ugh ...
In addition is there was a ton of "dumb exploration". As an example, out of the maybe 30 galaxies in Mass Effect Andromeda, I think only about 10 had missions on them. The vast majority of them are just filler solar systems that you can't explore or do anything except scan for anomalies or minerals. Near the end of the game they introduce about 6 new solar systems to explore. You get a mission in exactly zero of them.
The game could have been much better by limiting this aspect. There was no need to add so much "filler". I'm wondering if DLC is planned down the line to add things todo in all this "filler".
As an example of how much filler there was, the website how long to beat lists the following times to complete everything in the game:
Mass Effect - 44 hours
Mass Effect 2 - 50 hours
Mass Effect 3 - 49 hours
Mass Effect: Andromeda - 93 hours
Yeah ...
3) Bugs
In any major RPG nowadays there will be bugs. I recall a healthy chunk in Fallout 4. However, the bugs in Mass Effect: Andromeda just seemed more annoying or just crossed a threshold of annoying. I generally consider animation bugs tolerable (I recall onetime I walked into a room in the Tempest and simply died by falling into space b/c the floor hadn't been generated).
However, there seemed to be a nice chunk of quest bugs where waypoints weren't set correctly. So I wandered aimlessly for awhile or eventually had to look online for tips.
I also had to restart/reload the game a number of occasions (I recall once the game hanging, I reloaded, and the Nomad had somehow ended up being inside a Vault). A few times is tolerable, but it was more than the normal acceptable level. At some point, you are doing quests and can't complete it, so you just accept "I guess it's just bugged".
4) Constant scanning
I enjoyed the scanning aspect of the game, but there was just too much "look around in this area for the thing you need to look for." At some point you scan all around you hoping for things to go faster.
5) Disappointing end battle
I was disappointed in the end battle. Instead of fighting the archon, you just end up fighting tons of remnant (like you have been doing the entire game) and an architect, which I had already fought 4 times in the game. What about an epic battle with the Archon? IIRC, at some point he says something like "I control all the remnant" ... so perhaps the end battle could have been remnant and him versus your team?
6) Suspension of disbelief
There was a tiny suspension of disbelief problem I had in some elements of the story. I'm completely ignoring the fact that the Angaran learn English nearly instantaneously after initially speaking to you in their native tongue (you just accept it for the game to continue).
At some point while playing I thought to myself, "I'm killing a lot of people." Given that the game was supposed to be about humans and the other Milky Way races escaping the Milky Way to try and make a new home for themselves, it seems odd that I would be killing so many people. I can accept there were "exiles" that left the Nexus, and perhaps I might kill a few here and there. But I'm just killing tons of outcasts, collective, scavengers, traitors, exiles, etc.
The settlement on Elaaden made no sense to me either. If there is no water on the planet, why would anyone even settle there? My bet is that the Mass Effect team thought "We have a planet that's initially too cold to settle, so we also need a planet that's initially too hot to settle."
In addition, why is everyone so violent and willing to steal, kill, and destroy each other? Weren't certain criminal elements vetted properly before traveling to another galaxy? One tiny quest in the game attempts to address this, but it was a bit hard to suspend disbelief.
Conclusion:
Online there are criticisms of the animations, lack of character depth, and story. While maybe not as great a game as some of the earlier Mass Effect games (notably the wonderful Mass Effect 2), I would not pan the game on this alone. Some story elements could have been better (such as the whole "SAM memory triggers" ... what a let down at the finish). It could have been stronger, but it wasn't that big of a deal.
It's all of the little things above that just made the game not as good. Some tiny subtleties in the game flow could have made it much more enjoyable. Making the game a little "smaller" probably would have helped alot by getting rid of a lot of the filler and suspension of disbelief. Add in a little bit better QA and a better boss battle at the end, and it could have easily been a game reviewed in the 80% range instead of 70% range.
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Lunch @ Solbar in Calistoga, CA
I was in Calistoga for some business and grabbed lunch at the 1 Michelin star Solbar. While I've been on some casual Michelin-star dining trips (Al's Place and Kin Khao come to mind), dining at Solbar is perhaps the most casual as it is A) a casual restaurant to begin with and B) for lunch. This isn't a knock against Solbar, it simply is what it is.
The menu at Solbar is typical a la carte affair. We grabbed some appetizers and some sandwiches, here's what we had.
1) beet salad
This salad was listed as "locally world famous" and I agreed with it. It's a great salad. It included two types of beets underneath the mound of frisee you see. On the side you can find pureed beets, avocado, and grapefruit. My favorite was the beet chips. I would highly recommend this to anyone going to Solbar for lunch.
2) sol fries
My girlfriend loves fries so we had to get some for her. While not quite as good as the pickled fries from Al's Place these were quite delicious. They lightly sprinkled the fries with picante dust to give it a bit of a kick.
3) duck banh mi sandwich
We both ended up getting the duck banh mi sandwich as our main. It comes with a papaya/jicama salad. The duck banh mi sandwich was quite good. Along with the duck there was some pate, carrots, and jalapeño. The staff removed the seeds from the jalapeño, so there was a small kick but not too much. A good sandwich.
Along with some drinks, tax, and tip we ended up paying about $90 for lunch. It's a bit pricey for lunch, but I'm glad we stopped into try it.
The menu at Solbar is typical a la carte affair. We grabbed some appetizers and some sandwiches, here's what we had.
1) beet salad
This salad was listed as "locally world famous" and I agreed with it. It's a great salad. It included two types of beets underneath the mound of frisee you see. On the side you can find pureed beets, avocado, and grapefruit. My favorite was the beet chips. I would highly recommend this to anyone going to Solbar for lunch.
2) sol fries
My girlfriend loves fries so we had to get some for her. While not quite as good as the pickled fries from Al's Place these were quite delicious. They lightly sprinkled the fries with picante dust to give it a bit of a kick.
3) duck banh mi sandwich
We both ended up getting the duck banh mi sandwich as our main. It comes with a papaya/jicama salad. The duck banh mi sandwich was quite good. Along with the duck there was some pate, carrots, and jalapeño. The staff removed the seeds from the jalapeño, so there was a small kick but not too much. A good sandwich.
Along with some drinks, tax, and tip we ended up paying about $90 for lunch. It's a bit pricey for lunch, but I'm glad we stopped into try it.
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Game Theory: Stores Dumping Ivanka Trump
I was thinking about the whole Ivanka Trump brand being dropped from stores. Nordstrom recently dropped the Ivanka Trump brand and said:
Assume there's only two groups of customers before the election.
A) People who like Ivanka Trump Merchandise
B) People who dislike Ivanka Trump Merchandise
It's almost certain some percentage of non-Trump supports would stop buying brands that were associated with Trump. These people come from group 'A'.
The question is, for the customers lost in group 'A', would other customers make up the sales difference?
If you're an Ivanka Trump fan and a Trump supporter from group 'A', it's unlikely you can makeup the difference.
Hypothetically, lets say you have two customers, each who loved the Ivanka Trump brand and bought 10 outfits from her in the past. Going forward, one customer says she'll never buy Ivanka Trump again but the other really wants to support Ivanka Trump going forward. Will the Ivanka Trump supporter buy 20 outfits in the future to offset the loss from the other customer? Unlikely. She might be generous and up the purchase amount to 11 outfits, but that's it.
If there were way more Ivanka Trump supporters than non-Trump supporters, perhaps the Ivanka Trump supporters could make up the difference. But given the split in votes in the election, it's not likely.
To make up the difference, you really need customers from group 'B' to make up the difference. However, if you didn't like Ivanka Trump merchandise from the start (i.e. it's style, it's fit, don't need that type of clothing) it's unlikely you'll ever flip over and start buying it. There may be a small few that decide to flip over just to support her for the sake of supporting her, but it's hard to imagine that group being large enough (i.e. most people will not buy something they don't need or won't use).
If Ivanka Trump merchandise were some general clothing commodity needed by customers (i.e. tube socks, underwear), you might be able to make the argument people could switch over. But given it's supposed to be a lifestyle brand, it's hard to imagine the switch happening.
If Ivanka Trump merchandise were a major "destination brand", such as a Coach, Michael Kors, Kate Spade, etc. her brand could perhaps weather the storm temporarily. Unfortunately, she's not in that category yet.
Update 2/23/17:
It seems that Ivanka Trump perfume has shot up to a top seller on Amazon. This is perhaps the perfect example showcasing the counterpoint. As a single "commodity" item ("commodity" here meaning interchangeable), it has a chance to have sales even out or go up. If you are a person who generally buys perfume, lets say one bottle a year, you can easily switch over if you hadn't bought Ivanka Trump merchandise before.
We’ve said all along we make buying decisions based on performance. We’ve got thousands of brands – more than 2,000 offered on the site alone. Reviewing their merit and making edits is part of the regular rhythm of our business. Each year we cut about 10 percent and refresh our assortment with about the same amount. In this case, based on the brand’s performance we’ve decided not to buy it for this season.Some, such as the President, think the issue was political and not based on sales. But using some game theory logic, I think it's very likely the case was sales related.
Assume there's only two groups of customers before the election.
A) People who like Ivanka Trump Merchandise
B) People who dislike Ivanka Trump Merchandise
It's almost certain some percentage of non-Trump supports would stop buying brands that were associated with Trump. These people come from group 'A'.
The question is, for the customers lost in group 'A', would other customers make up the sales difference?
If you're an Ivanka Trump fan and a Trump supporter from group 'A', it's unlikely you can makeup the difference.
Hypothetically, lets say you have two customers, each who loved the Ivanka Trump brand and bought 10 outfits from her in the past. Going forward, one customer says she'll never buy Ivanka Trump again but the other really wants to support Ivanka Trump going forward. Will the Ivanka Trump supporter buy 20 outfits in the future to offset the loss from the other customer? Unlikely. She might be generous and up the purchase amount to 11 outfits, but that's it.
If there were way more Ivanka Trump supporters than non-Trump supporters, perhaps the Ivanka Trump supporters could make up the difference. But given the split in votes in the election, it's not likely.
To make up the difference, you really need customers from group 'B' to make up the difference. However, if you didn't like Ivanka Trump merchandise from the start (i.e. it's style, it's fit, don't need that type of clothing) it's unlikely you'll ever flip over and start buying it. There may be a small few that decide to flip over just to support her for the sake of supporting her, but it's hard to imagine that group being large enough (i.e. most people will not buy something they don't need or won't use).
If Ivanka Trump merchandise were some general clothing commodity needed by customers (i.e. tube socks, underwear), you might be able to make the argument people could switch over. But given it's supposed to be a lifestyle brand, it's hard to imagine the switch happening.
If Ivanka Trump merchandise were a major "destination brand", such as a Coach, Michael Kors, Kate Spade, etc. her brand could perhaps weather the storm temporarily. Unfortunately, she's not in that category yet.
Update 2/23/17:
It seems that Ivanka Trump perfume has shot up to a top seller on Amazon. This is perhaps the perfect example showcasing the counterpoint. As a single "commodity" item ("commodity" here meaning interchangeable), it has a chance to have sales even out or go up. If you are a person who generally buys perfume, lets say one bottle a year, you can easily switch over if you hadn't bought Ivanka Trump merchandise before.
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Dinner @ Californios in San Francisco, CA
I first heard of Californios several years ago when it was awarded a Michelin Star. It really caught my eye because it is (to my knowledge) the only Michelin starred restaurant in the Bay Area that does a tasting menu based on Mexican cuisine. It's been high on my list of restaurants to try out for some time and I finally hit it up this past weekend.
Just like my last tasting menu experience at Oriole, Californios chooses to not tell you the dishes you'll be served ahead of time. Instead, you'll be surprised by what they serve you and you'll get a copy of the menu at the end. The menu they give you at the end doesn't list each ingredient in each dish, so many of the descriptions below are based on my best recollections.
1) Agua Fresca
First up some agua fresca to cleanse our palette. This agua fresca was grapefruit based. There were some other flavors, but I can't recall all of them.
2) Enfrijolada
These were two corn based snacks to start the meal. The first one was with some type of black corn with a shrimp ceviche. It was delicious. The second one was another corn (can't remember the type) with wagyu tartar and some truffle on top. It was served warm so the corn hits your tastebuds first. Also tasty, but not as good as the top one.
3) Cachete Taco
This may have been my favorite dish of the night. This was a taco with some sauce (can't remember), super soft beef cheek, and apple slices on top. The combo of textures and flavors was really good.
4) Sope
This was duck confit and kumquat in a tortilla. I liked the kumquat hits in the middle of the duck.
5) Hielo
This was a palette cleanser sorbet of some sort. Sorry, but I can't remember the flavor at all. All I remember is they poured a liquid on it to give it a bit of a margarita feel to it. There were some jellys and pomegranate seeds in here too.
6) Ceviche
This was a Japanese fluke ceviche with shiso in a cranberry juice liquid. Really really good. The juice had a kick to it, which was apparently from shiso.
7) Aguachile
I can't remember the ingredients in the sauce at the bottom, but the primary part of the dish is crab wrapped in radish and I think the top is nasturtium. Also good.
8) Langosta
This was a lobster taco with (I think) sour cream and fennel on top. This was really really good.
9) Yerba Buena Fruit Cup
I can't remember the details but this was meant to emulate a Mexican fruit dish of some sort. It's a fuji apple variant wrapping goat cheese and some hazelnut butter underneath. Really good although I wish there was another fruit variant in the mix to give it another flavor twist.
10) Abulo
This was a pork based broth poured over some abalone. I believe the herb in the soup is "chickweed". The first thought I had when eating this was the abalone was so soft and tender, not chewy like other places (including even 3 Michelin star Benu).
11) Frijoles
This was the other maybe my favorite dish of the night. The dish was a layer of atleast two different types of beans with some hackleback caviar on top. The top layer was very airy, with the beans whipped/foamed in some way. The different textures and the caviar were delicious together.
12) Chipotle
Another tasty dish, this was scallop, with cabbage, limes, and a chipotle chile on the bottom.
13) Pato
This was duck with a mole sauce, made with duck jus and some blood orange and candied walnuts. Duck is often a hit or miss with me and this was definitely on the hit side. Not too rare and flavorful with the mole sauce. I would put it below the duck at Keiko a Nob Hill, but better than Aster and La Folie. The mole sauce was good, although I think it could have done without the walnuts. I feel the texture difference was just too big of a contrast.
14) Carne Asada
The waiter said this was sort of a deconstructed carne asada, using A5 Wagyu from Japan. Included was some leeks and mustard blossoms (?) on the side. On top, some tomato/onion sauce was poured on top. Really good. I actually liked this more than the wagyu I recently had from Oriole.
15) Limon
This was a key-lime pie kind of deconstruction. They wedge was a key-lime mousse/ice cream kind of thing. I can't recall what was in the sauce at the bottom but it included pineapple (which was removed in my because I'm allergic).
16) Cacahuate
The last dessert was a peanut brittle dessert with some peanut ice cream, peanuts, and chocolate ganache. This was the only miss of the night for me, but it wasn't the restaurant's fault. I just dislike peanut flavor in general. But the peanut flavor wasn't strong enough for me to hate the dessert.
17) Manzana Ponche
Finally, we got this punch, which was basically an apple cider. I can't remember other ingredients in this. It's typically alcoholic, but I requested this to be non-alcoholic.
Overall, I loved this meal. It's somewhere in my Top 10 all time. By incorporating Mexican ingredients, many dishes that may have seem "classic and good" at an American or French restaurant were suddenly given a twist to make them different and new. The menu appears to change wildly, so I'm looking forward to going there a second time in the future.
The meal took almost 2 and a half hours. I left he meal satisfied, although a bread course would have left me a bit more "full" at the end.
Just like my last tasting menu experience at Oriole, Californios chooses to not tell you the dishes you'll be served ahead of time. Instead, you'll be surprised by what they serve you and you'll get a copy of the menu at the end. The menu they give you at the end doesn't list each ingredient in each dish, so many of the descriptions below are based on my best recollections.
1) Agua Fresca
First up some agua fresca to cleanse our palette. This agua fresca was grapefruit based. There were some other flavors, but I can't recall all of them.
2) Enfrijolada
These were two corn based snacks to start the meal. The first one was with some type of black corn with a shrimp ceviche. It was delicious. The second one was another corn (can't remember the type) with wagyu tartar and some truffle on top. It was served warm so the corn hits your tastebuds first. Also tasty, but not as good as the top one.
3) Cachete Taco
This may have been my favorite dish of the night. This was a taco with some sauce (can't remember), super soft beef cheek, and apple slices on top. The combo of textures and flavors was really good.
4) Sope
This was duck confit and kumquat in a tortilla. I liked the kumquat hits in the middle of the duck.
5) Hielo
This was a palette cleanser sorbet of some sort. Sorry, but I can't remember the flavor at all. All I remember is they poured a liquid on it to give it a bit of a margarita feel to it. There were some jellys and pomegranate seeds in here too.
6) Ceviche
This was a Japanese fluke ceviche with shiso in a cranberry juice liquid. Really really good. The juice had a kick to it, which was apparently from shiso.
7) Aguachile
I can't remember the ingredients in the sauce at the bottom, but the primary part of the dish is crab wrapped in radish and I think the top is nasturtium. Also good.
8) Langosta
This was a lobster taco with (I think) sour cream and fennel on top. This was really really good.
9) Yerba Buena Fruit Cup
I can't remember the details but this was meant to emulate a Mexican fruit dish of some sort. It's a fuji apple variant wrapping goat cheese and some hazelnut butter underneath. Really good although I wish there was another fruit variant in the mix to give it another flavor twist.
10) Abulo
This was a pork based broth poured over some abalone. I believe the herb in the soup is "chickweed". The first thought I had when eating this was the abalone was so soft and tender, not chewy like other places (including even 3 Michelin star Benu).
11) Frijoles
This was the other maybe my favorite dish of the night. The dish was a layer of atleast two different types of beans with some hackleback caviar on top. The top layer was very airy, with the beans whipped/foamed in some way. The different textures and the caviar were delicious together.
12) Chipotle
Another tasty dish, this was scallop, with cabbage, limes, and a chipotle chile on the bottom.
13) Pato
This was duck with a mole sauce, made with duck jus and some blood orange and candied walnuts. Duck is often a hit or miss with me and this was definitely on the hit side. Not too rare and flavorful with the mole sauce. I would put it below the duck at Keiko a Nob Hill, but better than Aster and La Folie. The mole sauce was good, although I think it could have done without the walnuts. I feel the texture difference was just too big of a contrast.
14) Carne Asada
The waiter said this was sort of a deconstructed carne asada, using A5 Wagyu from Japan. Included was some leeks and mustard blossoms (?) on the side. On top, some tomato/onion sauce was poured on top. Really good. I actually liked this more than the wagyu I recently had from Oriole.
15) Limon
This was a key-lime pie kind of deconstruction. They wedge was a key-lime mousse/ice cream kind of thing. I can't recall what was in the sauce at the bottom but it included pineapple (which was removed in my because I'm allergic).
16) Cacahuate
The last dessert was a peanut brittle dessert with some peanut ice cream, peanuts, and chocolate ganache. This was the only miss of the night for me, but it wasn't the restaurant's fault. I just dislike peanut flavor in general. But the peanut flavor wasn't strong enough for me to hate the dessert.
17) Manzana Ponche
Finally, we got this punch, which was basically an apple cider. I can't remember other ingredients in this. It's typically alcoholic, but I requested this to be non-alcoholic.
Overall, I loved this meal. It's somewhere in my Top 10 all time. By incorporating Mexican ingredients, many dishes that may have seem "classic and good" at an American or French restaurant were suddenly given a twist to make them different and new. The menu appears to change wildly, so I'm looking forward to going there a second time in the future.
The meal took almost 2 and a half hours. I left he meal satisfied, although a bread course would have left me a bit more "full" at the end.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Why you should try online dating
Not so long ago an acquaintance asked me if doing online dating was a good idea (see prior post detailing experiences with specific websites).
I thought about it and gave them this answer. Now there are two normal "relationship-ish" answers people typically give when answering this question.
I thought about it and gave them this answer. Now there are two normal "relationship-ish" answers people typically give when answering this question.
- Getting out there
Perhaps the most important reason for going online dating is to just put yourself out there. You aren't going to find Mr. Or Mrs. right sitting around the house.
- Figuring things out
If you're single and haven't been out there much (see prior post about the game theory of online dating), it's good to get out there and meet people and figure out what you're looking for, what's good for you, and what's not good for you. You'll find the answer may be very different than what you originally thought.
- Go do stuff you like to do
If you have some hobby you like to do the hobby, it's likely you'll be able to meet someone you can do it with. Even if it's just for one date. For me, I love to eat food (see dining adventures), and online dating was a great way for me to check out a bunch of restaurants I'd been meaning to try. - Go do stuff you've never done before
Likewise you're likely going to meet people who have much different hobbies and/or interests than you. So you'll end up doing some cool/interesting stuff, even if it's just for one date.
- Make some new friends
While this can be hit or miss based on each other's personalities. Sometimes you can meet some cool new people even if they'll never end up a romantic partner.
- Meet some crazy people
You will inevitably have some bad dates. They end up for great stories with your friends. I have my share of stories that my friends love to hear.
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