Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2

I am very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very excited about this! 😍 😍 😍 😍 😍

CMaNGOS - Multi-Realm Goodness!

CMaNGOS - Multiple Realms

I love how easy it's been, even since MaNGOS, to create multiple realms. One day I wish that I could team up with realm administrators from around the world to connect all of our realms and have an almost centralized World of Warcraft realm listing where people could simply add one realmlist entry and get an entire listing of available realms right from within their application. Anyways, it's been a lot of fun tinkering around with this stuff again, especially since I have 4-5 Dell 2950s sitting around. Running 3 realms and the realmd daemon still is only consuming 4-5GBs of RAM which is fantastic! I could probably add another 3-4 realms safely!

2016 Summer Reading List - Horsey Edition!

  1. Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry (no matter what your age, this is a must-read summer classic.)
  2. 101 Ground Training Exercises for Every Horse & Handler by Cherry Hill (boy, is your horse going to be surprised when you get home and start on some new stuff.)
  3. Wonderful World of Horses Coloring Book by John Green (because coloring is fun at any age!)
  4. The Most Glorious Crown: The Story of America's Triple Crown Thoroughbreds from Sir Barton to American Pharaoh by Marvin Drager and Ed McNamara (learn about some of the most amazing Thoroughbreds in history.)
  5. Braiding Manes and Tails: A Visual Guide to 30 Basic Braids by Charni Lewis (it’s makeover time for your horse when you get home!)
  6. The Horse Conformation Handbook by Heather Smith Thomas (so next time someone says "pigeon-toed,” you’ll know what they mean.)
  7. Draw 50 Horses: The Step-by-Step Way to Draw Broncos, Arabians, Thoroughbreds, Dancers, Prancers, and Many More... by Lee J. Ames (because summer is the perfect time to cultivate your artistic skills.)
  8. Horse Owner's Field Guide to Toxic Plants by Sandra Burger and A. P. Knight (brush up on your knowledge of toxic plants—it’s a good skill to have.)
  9. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (it’s a classic—you should read it again.)
  10. Stables: Beautiful Paddocks, Horse Barns, and Tack Rooms by Kathryn Masson and Paul Rocheleau (summer is the time for daydreams!)
  11. Chicken Soup for the Horse Lover's Soul: Inspirational Stories About Horses and the People Who Love Them by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (perfect for times when you need a little encouragement.)
  12. The Field Guide to Horses by Samantha Johnson and Daniel Johnson (yes, I wrote this one.)
  13. My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara (another must-read classic.)
  14. The Essential Fergus the Horse: The Life and Times of the World's Favorite Cartoon Equine by Jean Abernethy (for the lighter moments of summer.)
  15. Horse Owner’s Veterinary Handbook by Thomas Gore, Paula Gore, and James M. Griffin (when you are in the mood for some serious studying.)
  16. And Ride Away Singing by Mary Jane Parkinson (hard to find but OH-SO-WORTH the read… the story of Bazy Tankersley and the Al-Marah Arabians.)
  17. Equine Color Genetics by Dan Phillip Sponenberg (the answers to all the questions you’ve ever had about equine color genetics.)
  18. Summer Pony by Jean Slaughter Doty (because it’s, um, summer.)
  19. Complete Training of Horse and Rider by Alois Podhajsky (another must-read classic.)
  20. Scarlet Royal by Anne Emery (if you can find it—read it!)

🐴 🐴 🐴

Source.

Self Hosted Minecraft: Pocket Edition Server

I've been a fan of Minecraft for some time now and I've had a copy of Minecraft: Pocket Edition for at least a year. While I still find it a fair amount more difficult to play over it's Xbox One and Xbox 360 counterparts, I do still find it enjoyable to pick up and play here and there.

With the announcement of Minecraft Realms, I thought it wouldbe neat to give that a go with a friend, especially since he got himself a new iPad as of recent. However after reading through their EULA I was completely put off. I did a little looking around and came across PocketMine. It's a solution that allows you to host your own Minecraft server, specifically for Pocket Minecraft. Of note, you can't run the normal version of the Minecraft server as that will only work for the PC/Mac versions of Minecraft.

I orginally started setting up my server environment on a CentOS 6.7 server however after messing around with trying to get an updated version of glibc to work on the system, I gave up and installed Ubuntu 14.04. During the installation process of Ubuntu I setup a user account, minecraft.

Logged in as my minecraft user, I created a new directory in it's home folder called server. I like to keep everything as organized as possible. Change into that directory:

cd /home/minecraft/server

Once in that directory run the following command. This will download and run the PocketMine installer:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PocketMine/php-build-scripts/master/installer.sh | bash -s -

Hopefully everything goes without a hitch. It should not only fetch the server itself but install PHP 7.x (at the time of writing this was the version it got).

Next run ./start.sh and it'll bring you through an initial set of questions. Most of them are pretty self explanatory. Once that is done your server should be online.

On your mobile device, go to Play and then hit the Friends tab. If you're local to your server (as in on the same network) you should see your server as already being in the list. If you're not local to server, such as your friend who's at their house or if you're connecting when you're on the go, then you'll have to manually add your server. By default the PocketMine server runs on port 19132, which should be the default value in your Pocket Minecraft.

All in all, it probably took 20-30 minutes to get my own Pocket Minecraft server up and running. I now have my own safe place to build and explore with my friends!

The Division - Beta

The Division Beta - vtequine

I've been having an awesome time playing through the beta for The Division over the last couple days. The beta is much better and much more refined and polished then the alpha. I have managed to actually complete missions on my own, match making and teaming up with other players is also much easier. I also made my way into the Dark Zone and have gotten some new weapons and gear. One thing I do wish was that there were a few more missions outside of the Dark Zone.

I am definitely looking forward to the final version of The Division come March 8th. I've put in my pre-order for the Gold Edition which includes a season pass and some other fun goodies. I hope everyone enjoyed playing through the beta, there's only about 18 hours left so I'll probably log a few more hours! 🎮

Too The Moon

Had a great time playing through this game. Who doesn't love horseback riding and space shuttles!?