mcclellangg.com

Update January 2026

Jan 31, 2026

Cold start to the new year

Overview

As I write this, the 'real feel' for the day is 3℉ according to the Pixel Weather Frog. It has been a cold month. Actually it has been a cold two months. We used double the amount of gas to heat our house in December compared to 2024. Although the average temperature (according to RVA DPU bill) for the month was only 5℉ different. 43℉ in December 2024 and 38℉ in December 2025. "I'm cold, it's cold" has been a top phrase in our household.

Programming

Although I would prefer to be outside more, I have used the inside time to get things done:

  • Added an rss feed to my blog (thanks Joe for encouraging prioritization of that)
    • I still need to telegraph it's availability via icon
  • Repurposed an old phone I have with Termux to serve a django CRUD app for my quotes
    • Inspired by Dom Corriveau who runs their blog on a recycled Pixel 5
  • Listened to the pleas of my past self AND AUTOMATED MY POST PUBLISHING
    • mostly automated... nested lists (and I'm sure other things) are not supported ☹

I started a scraping project I'm really excited about too. Maybe I'll make it public down the line? For now I'm just having fun with it, but I'm curious to see how far I can take it.

Community

Prior to last week's storm, some friends and I were on a 3 week streak of running together every Friday. I am so grateful that we were able to meet and do this. Accountability is a huge factor in maintaining habits. Knowing that you'll end your week and start your weekend with friends you love, doing something fun and healthy together is also AWESOME. Once the weather clears WE WILL GET BACK OUT THERE! It is too important not to do.

ShadowDark

Ran an AWESOME ShadowDark session this month. We had a new player at our table, so I thought it would be a great time to experiment with Pulp Mode.

Pulp Mode Explained

In Pulp Mode, players start with 1d4 Luck Tokens, and there is no limit to the amount they can have (normally they are limited to 1). Luck Tokens are similar to forms of inspiration (heroic, bardic) in 5e. Players expend them to do any of the following:

  • reroll a roll
  • force the GM to reroll a roll (that's handy)
  • take an extra action
  • turn hits into critical hits (I made the mistake of ruling they could expend them to make a critical hit, that was fine for that session but I don't think I'd do that moving forward)

The Dark welcomes Benny the Halfling Wizard

ShadowDark is a deadly game by nature, so turning down the fatality and seeing players just STEAM ROLL bad guys is refreshing. They also had a magical light that did not go out, which made the difficulty of the game trivial. These choices made the game far more accessible for our new party member, who had never played any TTRPG before.

This player had so much fun they were asking me what it takes to get comfortable becoming a GM/DM. I don't think there is a higher compliment you can give a GM/DM than that. Knowing that someone had so much fun, they probably thought, "Wow how can I do more of this, I guess I have to run games", which means you probably did a pretty darn good job. A few years ago those exact thoughts went through my head after a friend was kind enough to include me in her campaign, the 5e version of The Sunless Citadel. Great starter campaign. So thanks again to her for doing that and introducing me to a lifelong hobby that I absolutely fucking love.

We expect great things of you Benny, welcome to our table.

Looking ahead

Next month I want to focus on the following:

  • Running more ShadowDark (always)
  • Seeing how far I can take my scraping project
  • Give site Home page a facelift (add rss icon, and blogfeeds)
  • Making efforts to get more comfortable with UI/UX
    • and finish a front-end project I have neglected for far too long
  • Make more efforts to draw 'finished works'
    • I have an idea for this, let's see if I do it

I may need to watch less TV if I want to do all that ...

Content

Movies

  • The Iron Claw (BREAK those generational cycles)
  • Dark City (Jennifer Connelly on a pier again?)
  • Dune (David Lynch, 1984) (I think I have less respect for the Dennis V. version now)
  • Weapons (GREAT movie)
  • Warfare
  • The Sitter (The era where landlines and cellphones co-exist)
  • LOTR The Fellowship of the ring (A perfect movie)

Books

  • Animorphs n25, n26, n27, n28
  • The Mindful Way through Depression (AWESOME book on Mindfulness thanks Emily)
  • Orsinian Tales (Favorites: The Barrow, Conversations at Night, The Road East)

TV

  • Stranger Things S5
  • Watching Fallout S2, The Hedge Knight, Euphoria ...

Music

  • St. Elsewhere, Gnarls Barkley
  • Inertia, Mitch Murder
  • Selection I, Mitch Murder
  • 2112, Rush

Articles

Stats

  • Ran 30.8 miles <- It appears the cold didn't totally stop me!