Excel Excess

In life, sometimes it's hard to get to your spreadsheets.  Maybe you're playing a computer game that takes up your entire screen, and you can't reach your netbook that's on your home network and accesses all those spreadsheets you've stored on your shared external hard drive. Or maybe you're researching RAM cards so said computer game will run faster, but you're using the POS computer you hacked into at your bartending job.  Anyway, in such instances, you have to use nature's spreadsheet:  paper.  Here're some sweet examples of my less digital spreadsheets.    Best for you?

Today's post comes live from my Control4 training course, via my MacBook Pro.  Obvs, this' a MSExcel blog, but today i'm using Apple's Numbers.  We'll see how it turns out, as i have little to no faith in Mac's approximation of MSOffice.  All the nerdery of being surrounded by fellow home-automators has got me playing my favorite browser-based, multiplayer RPG, KoL. Me! While completing the Me and My Nemesis quest in The Secret Tropical Island Volcano Lair, it became necessary for me to decode the Rave Disco Combos in order to make the ravers drop equipment (rave visors, baggy rave pants, pacifier necklaces, etc.) which would increase my Raveosity. The Secret Island Volcano Lair These combos consist of three discrete steps (Break it on Down, Pop and Lock It, and Run Like the Wind), and are randomized per player per ascension.  Since there're three steps, and each combo consists of each of the three, the total number of potential combinations is ...

This is me. Crafting is a large part of KoL (Kingdom of Loathing, a delightful browser-based, multiplayer role-playing game).  As a disco bandit, i am skilled at the art of cocktailcrafting.  There are many discoveries i've yet to make, so i need to keep track of what ingredients i need to acquire to make new drinks. The left column denotes the type of item i hope to discover. I've also got a Chef-in-the-Box which helps me cook fancy dishes. Green cells denote items i already have. Below is some of the equipment i possess, organized by type.  The "Handed" column refers to the number of hands required to wield a weapon.  Note that some weapons require three hands. Meat is the currency of the Kingdom of Loathing. If you combine some meat, you can make meat paste.  With meat paste, you can glue other items together, creating familiars, gear, usables, etc. The parenthetical statements following some of the items describe the quests, locations, o...

In this game, one has a stupid zombie staff that one gets to serve disgusting meals to idiotic customers.  Naturally, it was my favorite. Once a zombie chef finishes preparing a meal, they place the serving dish on a counter.  From there, zombie waiters can obtain one serving of a meal to deliver to a seated customer.  Since the amount of time it takes for a single customer to be served has a trickle down effect on the entire restaurant (quickly serving customers yields higher tips, rapid turnover increases profit and prevents customers from leaving angrily due to inadequate seating, extended service times increase the overall number of waiters needed to serve a steady flow of customers, etc.), obviously it is crucial to optimize this factor of game play. One element of the serving process that greatly affects service time is the location of the serving dish, since this modulates the amount of time for a stupid zombie waiter to obtain a disgusting dish, bring it t...