So shortly after my last post, I was rear ended in my silent automobile. I attribute my rear end damage a little bit to its silent nature–if I had a loud V8 perhaps I would have startled the attention of the driver behind me? instead, I slipped in traffic and attempted to turn left to my detriment…

Madden 24 came out last Friday, 8/18/23. The rosters are updated and some minor adjustments were made to gameplay and available features. My first impressions are positive. One thing that I may or may not have noticed is that All-Pro difficulty is something else. I mean, on one hand I get it, it’s a video game. It just kind of ruins the immersion the fact that these opponents have this ESP on the field. And the speed boost aspect when in pursuit? I have not verified, but I suspect that the speed and agility ratings are meaningless when AI opponents are pursuing the player-controlled character. Without performing a full-blown experiment, let’s go with that.

All-Pro difficulty does have a level of realism associated with it, in my humble opinion. The reason I say this is because I lose. I simulated a season with the Arizona Cardinals as that is the team that appears to be the worst team in Madden 24 on paper. The ratings of the players on the team are low. Because of this, I see it as a nice underdog challenge to simulate as coach and work to build the team up. You do learn quite a few things from this game about not only the team roster and their skill levels, but also of their depth. According to Madden 24, Arizona has some value from Kyler Murray, but their depth is lacking a bit. Their core runningbacks are on the weaker side except James Conner who is a bit of an older back. Their receiving core is reasonable, but their O-line is leaky, leading to QB sacks, scrambles, and check downs.

At any rate, I simulated a couple of seasons now. First season I made it to the Super Bowl and ended up losing there. Second run through I appear to have regressed to an 8-9 season. As frustrated as I was, it did seem more realistic to lose with these games so I was not all the way checked out. This third season I’m looking a bit better at around 5-1 or so. I can always give up with All-Pro and go back to Pro difficulty, but that would feel a bit like I was quitting.

I have not yet dived into the Jaguars franchise but I am certain I will at some point. What steers me away currently is the fact that the talking heads are saying that the Jaguars are a top 10 roster instead of the underdog they have historically been pegged as, so while I am happy for the team in real life, I avoid them as I like a challenge.

Beyond Madden, quite a bit has happened, as seen by the dent in my Model Y. I was rear ended back in March and just recently got the vehicle into the body shop. The courtesy rental that insurance set me up with turned into a bit of a debacle, but I now have a 2023 Altima in place for the Model Y. I had a few encounters with the HOA in the past few months and dealt with that. I currently have an armadillo burrowing in the same spot as it did a few years ago. I have read that cayenne pepper might help against the pheromones which are apparently bringing them to the same spot? It may be time to try some unorthodox solutions because this feels like Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam at this point.

I had an intern join me at work for the summer–one of my wife’s old students. It was interesting getting the Gen Z perspective, something I have never really had in my life. Most of my colleagues are Gen X peppered in with a few other Millenials. He suggested I get back into Japanese RPGs so I played through Dragon Quest XI S and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. That being said, it was just a stopgap until NFL season returned and we are currently in the midst of Preseason play.

I will close this by happily saying that I have not mentioned work until now. Work historically has consumed my life and to be completely honest, it still does, however, I am finding the necessary diversions to make things reasonable. My company is still in midst of a buyout, an admittedly uncomfortable situation, but I am continuing status quo. The only thing that would really ice things for me is a convertible. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy my Celica, but as with most project cars, there is room for improvement. There are little things like the door actuator which is still nonfunctional on the passenger side. More importantly, I suspect a problem with my fuel injection. Basically, when cold, the gas is sluggish to respond. After warming up a bit, the response is better. It could be any of a number of things which are not cut and dry solutions. It could be some sort of sensor going bad. It could be a loose wire. It cold be fuel injectors or fuel pump. I bought an OBDII and don’t see any codes so it remains a mystery.