Calm Before the Storm

This is the week that regular customers have stopped coming, forbidden by their loved ones to buy stuff before the holidays. It's also the week before holiday shoppers get around to us. We represent that store that sells that odd item on little Johnny's Christmas list (little Johnny may be 45). It's slow this week, but with lots of work to do, stocking up for the six week period ending mid-January.

With the family gone in Alaska and me suffering a cold, I've been leaving early each day to recuperate at home with my ogres. I painted thirteen since Thanksgiving, with about a dozen left, including those pesky trapper gnoblars.

I've also discovered the "watch instantly" Netflix feature. I consume mass amounts of TV when I'm sick, and since I've given it up, it means lots of Netflix. Netflix is self-limiting, thankfully, but "watch instantly" allows me to gorge on mostly schlock. Some notables: The Office is growing on me. Jeremiah is mildly entertaining, although it seems so dark and self-loathing that it's always a downer. For the most part, the free stuff is either socially relevant and important, meaning someone insisted it be available to watch, or it's the bottom of the barrel, middling stuff you may have rented in 1985.

Finally, if you're a D&D fan, you'll probably love the direction some of the new feats are taken. Remember those lame feats that only NPC's chose? Check them out now:

Toughness
Tier: Heroic
Benefit: When you take this feat, you gain additional hit points equal to your level + 3. You also gain 1 additional hit point every time you gain a level.

Alertness
Tier: Heroic
Benefit: You don’t grant enemies combat advantage in surprise rounds.
You also gain a +2 feat bonus to Perception checks.

First Reaction
Tier: Paragon
Benefit: If you are surprised, you may spend an action point to act during the surprise round.

You can find these on the Design & Development section on the WOTC website. Hey, we learned something interesting about 4.0 and it wasn't from Enworld!