Goodreads and Amazon
I was excited to hear the news that Goodreads was purchased by Amazon. I’ve been a Goodreads user from the start… I wrote about that back in February, actually. From what I’ve seen with other Amazon purchases, like Zappos and Audible, they seem to leave good enough alone with very slow and purposeful integration into the mother ship. I’m hopeful that the same will happen with Goodreads.
Interestingly, my reading has slowed since my post back in February! I didn’t I finished a single book in March, thanks to HayDay and my new iPad. I also haven’t had to travel much for work lately. (Ironically March was National Book Month. More on that in an upcoming post.)
Hay Day
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything gaming related… Working in the industry is a strange thing. It’s super fun, of course, but also ultimately work. So I’ve rarely indulge in games outside of work hours. This, however, changed over the last week for two reasons…
(1) I got an iPad.
The ultimate gaming device in my opinion. My Android phone was really bad for gaming, not to mention very, very small. The iPad is the perfect size for so many different games. (I have the larger version, but feel the same about the mini.) The touch interface is also really nice… It feels smoother than my phone, which might also be due to the size.
(2) Another coworker mentioned that they were playing HayDay, so I tried it out and am now a level 24 farmer.
I think the big difference between this game and FarmVille is that there is no decay. If you leave your farm, you come back to it in the same state. I haven’t noticed (maybe because I’m logging in so frequently?) my crops going bad or debris around my farm. It’s all positive.
As someone very interested in pricing and monetization, I’m also loving the selling mechanic. As a player, you can put resources on sale and price them for whatever you wish. I have a particular strategy that seems to be working well… Every time something sells, I get a burst of happiness. It’s as if the game is telling me that I’m smart. And I’m eating it up.
To top it off, the game art and animations are really well done. One example of this are the butterflies, birds, fish and frogs that are fluttering, flying and jumping around the farm and in the river. I also love how when I set off TNT to clear land, the chickens go berserk. I also find the somewhat disturbing animations of a pig, when ready to be harvested, put in a smoker and squeezed out of it to get bacon, pretty endearing.
I’ve spent $20 on the game so far, and could see putting another $10 into it based on how much fun I’m having with it. Having said that, I learned what is really worth spending on when I blew through the first gem package I bought. I would not recommend spending gems to open mystery boxes or to start crops or resources, like starting corn bread when you don’t already have the corn. The payoff there is low. At this point, I limit my spending to the daily deals for things like TNT, shovels and saws.
Kiin Kiin in Copenhagen
We had an amazing culinary experience last night for dinner at a Thai restaurant called Kiin Kiin. We are by no means foodies, and actually fancy food is often lost on me as someone who doesn’t eat red/white meat or shellfish. The staff very kindly adapted every dish of the 15+ course meal to my needs. They also had an option for a juice pairing as opposed to a wine pairing, which was awesome as a pregnant lady. Talk about personalized service and amazing, amazing food.
My favorite dish: pineapple dipped in white chocolate, rolled in pop rocks (yup)
My favorite juice: plum, aka Jolly Rancher
Unanimously disliked: mango or green tea custard
Unanimously liked: citrus fruit and fish in a chili, lemon, garlic sauce prepared right at the table
By the end if the night I was happy to be wearing maternity pants.
København
It snowed here yesterday, and we walked around in it. Brr. Copenhagen is super cozy though, so we found some good warm up spots along the way.
There isn’t much more to say about our trip. It’s been relaxed. Exactly what we were looking for…
Oh!! There is one thing. I found a craft store next to our hotel. I wandered in looking for a bathroom and my jaw dropped. They have scrapbooking supplies here! Direct quote: “Their stuff is pretty good.” That sums it up pretty well. Scott was laughing at me the whole time… He said it was like watching a Major League Baseball player on a little league field.
Speaking of bathrooms, I’ve seen almost every public bathroom in the city at this point! And they are all attended, clean, nice, and they all have needle drops.
Here’s a belly shot! Baby Bilas is making his presence known!
CPH
Scott and I are in Copenhagen this week. It is cold here, so I’m planning to do lots of reading at their cozy cafes.
One of my favorite things about traveling are the hotel breakfast buffets. I love soft boiled eggs, but very rarely make them for myself. (And when I do they rarely turn out as good as when qualified people make them for me.) Breakfast buffets in foreign countries often have them… I also think eggs in foreign countries are fresher than what we get in the States. Maybe it’s a pasteurization issue? Either way, yum.
Copenhagen has a lot of Scandinavian and a lot of general European-ness that I’m liking. Yeah, I could live here. One very interesting quirk: parents leave their bundled up kids in params outside if cafes and coffee shops unattended. (Unattended with a baby monitor, but still. So trusting.)
Hot chocolate and mochas are just hot milk or hot lattes with a hunk of chocolate placed in them. Still yummy!
Baby Bilas has been kicking and moving a bunch… He must like Copenhagen too!
