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Hello and welcome to the Zacchaeus Files. This is the second version of this web site, the former having now been consigned to the great big web site in the sky, largely because it was complete pants, with many "issues". This, hopefully is a much more exciting and informative site. The links to the left will take you to where you want to go.
1st November 2006 |
Right, so I haven't updated this in a while. Ok, a long while. I do have various excuses but mostly they revolve around playing EVE - far too much according to some people. I also got a new computer a while back and have only got around to transferring all the web page files and necessary programmes onto the new one recently. At any rate I thought it was time to update this site since quite a bit has changed since my last post. So where do I start? Well everyone is at least a year older although I'm not sure if everyone has become any wiser. Christopher has given up working in the catering industry and has started training to be a nurse at Napier University. David is still a postman but is doing a course in plumbing when he isn't working and Dougie has started a degree in Music at Ayr university. All change for the boys then and good luck to them all. As for me, well as I said I have been playing a lot of EVE Online when I'm not working of course. I've been playing this game now for over 2 years and it just gets better and better. It's not easy to convey what it's all about but I would certainly recommend it to anyone. I'll not bore you with any more details here but astute observers of this site will see that I have sneakily added a menu link at the left hand side to a new page which gives you some details of what I get up to in the game. Baby David is now 18 months old and here's some more pictures of him. Some were taken at his first birthday party. In other news since I no longer play any table top war games I cleaned out the garage - a bit - and sold quite a few of the miniatures on eBay. I was astonished at the interest in the armies that I had. I've left the pictures that I took on this site, just to remind me of what they were like. It was a bit of a wrench selling all the stuff that took me years to assemble and paint. Still it's better that someone is using them rather than them just sitting in boxes in my garage. Since I was in here anyway I've also tidied up a few things on the site, deleting old material and updating some of the content in the Aboutpage, like my age and stuff :) And that's it for now folks! |
8th April 2005 |
Finally managed to get the time to post some pictures of Baby David. Mother, Father and Baby are all doing well and they would like to thank everyone once again for their gifts. The three of them have settled in to their new home and of course the little chap is the centre of all family attention. It's hard to believe that he is already 6 weeks old today. |
25th February 2005 |
Baby David Alexander Greig was born today to proud parents David and Nicola. I'm a grandad :) And here's a picture. |
1st February 2005 |
'So what the hell have you been doing in the last 6 months and what's been happening to you?' Lot's of people have been asking. Well the answer is simple; I have discovered the wonderful world of online games. Specifically, EVE Online. Avid readers of these pages will know that my all time favourite game is Elite, the space trading game which first appeared all those years ago on the BBC Model B. There have been a few immitations since then but EVE is the ultimate homage to this wonderful game. For anyone who has never heard of it you must go here and see it for yourself. There is much of Elite in this but it has been taken to much greater heights in gaming excellence. There isn't room here to describe it in any detail but it has kept me hooked for months now and it will continue to for months to come I suspect. I have made many new friends through the game so if you are reading this hello The Kinetic, Ammundan, Veinnail, Wolfyman and everyone else in SSDC and DEVEL. David and Nicola have finally managed to find a place of their own and they move out in a couple of weeks. Their baby will follow a few weeks after that in early March if all goes to plan. Did I tell you David is now a postman? No? Well now you know. It will be very quiet without them I suspect, but the house will suddenly look bigger too :) Everyone else is as good as new except me, because I turned 50 a couple of weeks ago. This makes me officially old :) The next news will be baby related I suspect along with a picture or two |
3rd August 2004 |
Today I have to report on Dougie's triumph in the musical 'Sweeney Todd'. For the last 5 weeks he has been with the Scottish Youth Theatre's summer festival. Dougie was included in the group doing Sweeney Todd and for 4 weeks he worked 12 hours a day along with a group of around 23 others learning how to act, shave people with a cut throat razor, and how to do makeup, costume and stunts. In the final week they performed in the musical itself to great critical acclaim. Both the Mail on Sunday and the Times Educational Supplement gave the performance of Dougie and the leading lady (Katrina Innes as Mrs Lovett) rave reviews. Everyone here is extremely proud of him and thoroughly enjoyed the show. I was able to snap just the one decent photo and you can see it here. Just for fun I scanned in a picture from the Mail on Sunday as well as the review from the same paper. David and Nicola are on holiday in the Lake District and so far everything is going fine with the forthcoming baby event. Christopher has a new job in a whisky shop and is enjoying sampling the products that he now sells. And that's it for now. |
4th July 2004 |
Boy is there news this time or what? First of all. I'm going to be a grandfather! Yes, I know that means there will be another Greig inflicted on the world but I mean how great is this. No details of dates or anything but David and Nicola are pretty excited about it all. Dougie got the lead in Sweeney Todd! How great is that? He is over the moon and will now get down to some seriously hard work over the next three weeks. The performances will be at the Citizen's Theatre in the last week in July. The whole of his and (his girlfriend) Hannah's family are going. We'll just about fill the theatre. And that's not all. Cormyrean Nights has made it into the Hall of Fame. If you haven't played it already, what are you waiting for? Thanks again to everyone for playing it and for the comments and votes. That's enough excitement for one day ;) |
18th June 2004 |
The links mentioned in the news dated 12th May are now correct; I forgot to upload all of the pictures :) Thanks to Jean for informing me of this. It just shows you how few people actually view this site that it took a month for someone to notice that the links were broken. Even the Skrills appear not to have noticed. Dougie has been scrambling around looking for sponsors for his sojourn to the Scottish Youth Theatre, and he's managed to get a few and raise some money from raffling his girlfriend. The last sentence was a joke. Er.. and that's it really |
6th June 2004 |
Big news today is that Dougie has been accepted for a summer course with the Scottish Youth Theatre. It lasts for 5 weeks, 6 days a week, 12 hours a day! They will present a production of Sweeney Todd in July at the Citizen's Theatre. Should be fun. A big update to Cormyrean Nights today and I have finally started to think seriously about a new module. Just for fun I've started a separate diary of it's development. Otherwise it's all very quiet. |
12th May 2004 |
It's been a while since I updated this and there has been a fair amount happening. Cormyrean Nights seems to be popular enough although it dropped from the number one spot after one or two rogue scores. I think I may well extend it by adding some new content and I can at the same time change a few things that it got criticised for. Today is Dougie's last day at school, officially. He still has a couple of exams to sit and the leavers ball in June, but basically that's it. After the summer holiday's he's off to college to study music. David is now a postie. He started a couple of weeks ago, and now has a smart new uniform. Of course this means he has to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning but so far he seems to be coping. The other big news was that Mr Skrill himself appeared in Scotland for a few days in late April. This necessitated a gathering of available Skrills, pictures were taken. If I can gather any more I will. I also got around to sorting out a few more pictures of family and of a recent visit by David and Marjory. I also added a couple of pictures of the back garden just for fun. |
3rd April 2004 |
For those of you with Macs or who don't like the executable version of the Cormyrean Nights module I have uploaded an unzipped version together with the necessary hakpaks. You can get to the links via the NWN Modules page. In other news Dougie has obtained a place at one of the colleges he applied for and is awaiting the results of his audition for the other. Liz started her Easter holiday today and friends are due to visit any minute now. I must go and prepare for their arrival. |
27th March 2004 |
I have managed to complete a walkthrough for Cormyrean Nights. It's a Word document, so if you want a text only version click here. If you want to download these then right click over the link and choose Save Target As.. from the menu which appears. If I've missed anything or there are errors, please let me know. I have also updated the module, correcting a few minor bits and pieces and updating some other stuff. You can get it from the link on the left. |
22nd March 2004 |
Well, Cormyrean Nights has been well received, so well in fact that for now at least it's the number one rated module! Thanks to everyone who have downloaded it and voted. I have uploaded a new version of the module today, with some bug corrections in it. You can get it from the vault or from here. I'm also working on a walkthrough for it. Doing so has made me realise just how much content there is in the module, and it's going to take me some time. Keep watching this space for more news on the project. In other news Dougie has a couple of auditions for Universities and colleges coming up. Good luck to him. Christopher also had a birthday, I cannot believe that he is 24. It just is not possible. As mentioned below David left the Inland Revenue, for another job. Unfortunately the other job fell through so he is currently sitting around waiting for something to happen. He is drowning in applications. Finally, I've been playing a bit of EVE Online. This is a top game, it's just like my all time favourite game Elite. You must try this at home! |
7th March 2004 |
Hooray, the module for Neverwinter Nights has now, finally, been declared finished. I have uploaded it to the Vault tonight, but it will take a day or two to appear there. If you can't wait then you can download it here. My thanks again to everyone who helped with the playtesting, hopefully with your efforts all of the bugs have been caught and exterminated. The only question now is, what the hell am I going to do. I think I'll be taking a rest from NWN, and might give Eve Online a go. In other news, Chris came third in a comedy competition run by Jongleurs. He narrowly missed out on a £1000 first prize and a stand up contract. Well done Chris. Also David has answered his last phone call for the Inland Revenue. He finished at the call centre on Friday and starts a new job tomorrow. Back to tiling roofs then, until something better comes along. What could be better than the Inland Revenue? |
1st March 2004 |
The very latest and hopefully final playtest version of the NWN module has now been uploaded. Note that you'll need v1.62 of the game to run it. This latest update corrects a few things spotted by Jonathan and Michaela, and a small amount of new content following on from the release of v1.62. Everyone will be pleased to note that the merchant text bug has now been corrected. Barring anything major I'm going to release the module this weekend. |
26th February 2004 |
WebCam ahoy. Yes it's true I now have a WebCam, at long last. The images might be too frightening for those of a nervous disposition :) For those eagerly awaiting news of the release of Cormyrean Nights, you may be aware that Bioware have just updated the game to v1.62. I've delayed publication therefore to make sure that it works ok with this version and also to add a couple of things which are in the update into the module. Only three guesses what this could be :) |
23th February 2004 |
Some more errors corrected in Cormyrean Nights, thanks to Jonathan and his unorthodox way of looking at things which threw up some very peculiar and some not so peculiar bugs. The module has now been uploaded again with these and other corrections found by Ariella and others. I'm still on target to publish the module this week, so keep the reports coming in chaps. I've updated the NWN Modules page with a bit more information. In other news, I am trying to give up smoking (3 days so far) and I will soon be in possession of a webcam. Then you will be able to see just how awful I look whilst I drivvel on :) |
20th February 2004 |
Playtesting of Cormyrean Nights is going well and thanks to everyone who is helping to do so and for the feedback so far. I have uploaded a newer version today, which corrects some bugs, and makes some minor changes as suggested by JL and others. Thanks guys and keep the reports coming. My intention is to publish later this week, unless some horrible thing happens. You can download from the links in the previous entry or from the NWN page on the left. |
13th February 2004 |
Yes, I know it's Friday the 13th. It's also the day before Valentines Day and I hope all you chaps have got the flowers and cards sorted. (I got some flowers on the way home from work at 5.00pm. Talk about leaving it late :) Anyway, I have made my module Cormyrean Nights available for playtesting. I think I have got rid of any major bugs but some fine tuning needs done. So if you are reading this because you answered my request in the NWN forums either follow the link to the left or if that's too much you can click here. If you want to know more about the module first then this ReadMe should do the trick. Please remember to let me know that you have the module so that I can contact you with any news. You can contact me via the contact button to the left. So happy gaming if that's what brought you here, otherwise Happy Valentine's Day |
5th February 2004 |
A quick update is necessary I think. My module for Neverwinter Nights is technically finished, but I am in the process of playtesting it. This process is going well and so far I haven't found anything which requires rewriting vast amounts of it :) I have been so busy with it that I am neglecting the chaps on mIRC. Having said that they may be quite happy that I'm not around. Anyway, I will be back to normal soon, I hope. I passed another birthday a week or two ago so only 1 more year until I'm 50. Good grief. My children are now all grown up and things. It's a bit frightening really. Anyway, time to get back to the playtesting. |
11th January 2004 |
Happy New Year (belatedly). In many ways I'm glad 2003 is over. It's certainly had a lot of low points but also it did have a lot of good things too. Anyway we look forward to a better year this time around. Christmas and New Year here were both fairly quiet. I suppose since the children have grown up some of the magic of the holiday period has kind of gone. Still we had fun mostly, and not too much to drink. Have I finished this module yet you all want to know. Well, not quite yet but I'd say we are looking at about 99% now. I was just looking at some of the statistics the other day just to see where all the time has gone. There are over 130,000 words in the conversation file, over 150 areas and over 2500 scripts. This is going to be a bugger to playtest on my own, so if anyone reading this fancies doing some playtesting please send me an e-mail. It will probably be another couple of weeks before I am at that stage. Once I have finished it I must sort out a new page in this site, just dedicated to NWN. Bye for now. |
24th December 2003 |
Merry Christmas everyone. Well, now that the holidays are here, I have got right back into my Neverwinter Nights module. I have vowed that I will finish it over the next few days or so. The intention is to release it after the New Year. It will require considerable play testing however so if there is anyone out there who fancies helping with that task then let me know. You'll need NWN and the SoU expansion, updated to the latest version (1.6 at the time of writing). I can't say exactly how long it will take to play through but I reckon about 20 hours or so. I also intend to put up a page in this site dedicated to it soon. Watch this space. Not a lot of other news, and in any case I need to wrap up some presents. Let's hope I make a better job of it than in previous years. Wrapping presents is a skill which has alluded me so far. It's really silly but I just cannot ever get it right. Any present which I have wrapped looks like a dog's breakfast. Anyway, must get on. |
18th December 2003 |
So it's more bad news this time. My dad died a fortnight ago, suddenly although he had been ill. We didn't think it was a fatal illness mind you but that's the way it turned out. Apart from David's wedding there have been a few lows this year, so here's hoping that it turns out to be a better one next year. Apart from that, not a great deal has happened. David and Nicola had a good honeymoon apart from the poor weather and the cockroaches. I have now sorted out some more pictures of the wedding, mainly taken at the reception. I have still to collect a few more. The NWN module has had to take a back seat again, first because they brought out an expansion for Civ 3 and then the fantastic Knights of The Old Republic. This latter is a Star Wars role playing game set about 4,000 years before the films take up the story. It's produced by BioWare, the same chaps who did Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. It's absolutely excellent and you should all rush out immediately and buy it. I will finish the module one of these days. Maybe I'll have time during the Christmas Holidays. OMG! Christmas is less than a week away. I'd better get out there and buy some Christmas presents. Bye! |
16th November 2003 |
Well, it's all over. Yesterday David and Nicola got married and it was just a fantastic occasion. Everything went really well, the bride was stunning and the groom handsome, the service was lovely, the reception was great, the groom's father looked dashing and cavalier. Well, ok that last bit isn't true but the rest of it is. Everyone who was there enjoyed themselves enormously and it was so sad when it came to an end. It really, really was great. Even the weather was beautiful right up until after the service. I haven't had time to sort out much in the way of photos yet, I'm still trying to gather as many digital ones as I can. I have posted a few here. Once I get everything organised I'll put up a more comprehensive display. The happy couple are jetting off to Tenerife for a week on Tuesday. Meantime we are all recovering quietly. |
3rd November 2003 |
Gosh this wedding is getting close. Less than a week now. The bans have been posted, rings purchased, the chapel and reception confirmed, Liz has her outfit sorted, the dress, flowers and cake are all organised. The RSVP's are flooding in. It's all very exciting. We had a combined stag/hen night on Saturday at the Kelly's house and had a laugh, set off some fireworks and dressed David up in nothing but bra, g string and suspenders and threw him outside. :D In other news, Dougie had his 17th birthday the other day so he is anxious to get his provisional driving license. Since it would not be possible to insure him for our car he approached David as to the possibility of learning on his. He got a two word answer! Things are going great on the games front. I've been playing Temple of Elemental Evil a lot. It is a bit like the curates egg this one. It has a few annoying bugs but the combat is as close to the PnP version of D&D as you can get. This means you have real scope for tactics. It is proper turn based too which means that it is very true to the PnP version. Good stuff Talking of D&D we have started a new campaign after a gap of more than a year. Dougie Chris and David are all taking part along with Nicola (our first ever lady player) and Dougie's pal Huw. It's great fun being back in the DM's seat. All of this means that the NWN module is still on hold and the second expansion is out soon. I will finish it, but it's going to be another few weeks yet I feel. Well that's it for now. Next post will be after the wedding along with pictures. I hope. |
17th October 2003 |
Time for another update, I suppose. So, what's been happening? Er, well, er. Oh, I know, David was 21 last week! Since his wedding is so near the party was limited to a meal at the local Chinese restaurant and then back to the house where we sat and laughed for a couple of hours over some home videos taken when the boys were wee. The wedding is now a mere 4 or so weeks away. Still no sign of David getting excited and/or nervous. Nicola meantime is like a road runner on speed. Continuing to take a break from NWN and have moved on to UFO Aftermath. Top game. |
22nd September 2003 |
Another month, some more news. Unfortunately not all of it good. Liz's dad died on the 5th September which also happens to be Liz's birthday. Many thanks to everyone who expressed their condolences. The wedding is now almost imminent really with only a few weeks to go. Invitations will be going out within the next day or two, so if you don't get one then you're not invited :) Dougie managed to win the first prize for Music at the recent school prize giving. Apart from a certificate he got a £10 book token which he immediately exchanged for cash from me. Well done Dougie. Chris is back to cheffing after giving up trying to sell little old ladies extra bits for their mobile phones which they couldn't afford. He had too much of a conscience! He's still doing his Comedy Caveman routine and is beginning to actually take on the appearance of a caveman. He has been threatened with some severe pruning and sprucing up prior to the wedding. I'm taking a slight break from Neverwinter Nights and playing Galactic Civilizations. I'll finish that module one day! Anyway that's about it for now. |
20th August 2003 |
Time for another update, although not a great deal has been happening really. Biggest news recently is that Dougie got his Higher results, an 'A' in music and a 'C' in English. That's exactly twice as many Highers as both his brothers combined got :) Wedding plans are continuing and I have been measured for a kilt. The only question remaining for me is whether to wear anything under it. I think the answer has got to be nothing, however I'll need to stay well clear of cameras and not partake in too many strenuous jigs. Christopher is now appearing regularly in an amateur comedy club, as the link man between acts. We went to see him the other night and he is pretty good. They call him the Comedy Caveman and I have to say he is looking the part. I am making good progress now with the new Neverwinter Nights module. I had to give in and include stuff from the Shadows of Underentide expansion which I hadn't intended to do. There was just too much cool stuff in it. I am hoping that it will be ready for release sometime in the next couple of months. It has been a mammoth project, since I have been working on it on and off for nearly 10 months now. That's about it really. I must get back to the module. |
26th July 2003 |
We're back! The trip to America is now, sadly, over and we are back in the land of the midge. We had an absolutely wonderful time, managing to fit a tremendous amount into our 2,600 mile journey through California, Nevada and Colorado (well bits of them at least). During the trip I kept a diary of what we did and rather than fill up the news column with details of our trip I have transcribed it onto the website. Should you be in any way interested you can read it here. Many, many pictures were taken of course, too many to put them all on this site. I have selected a few however and you can see them here. As an incentive to Skrill members I have included one picture of Skrill H.Q. which has a certain quality about it. We ended our trip staying with some of Liz's relatives and I'd just like to thank them again for their hospitality. We had a great time, meeting you all and I hope you have been practicing those new words I taught you. Unexpectedly the house was in fairly good shape on our return, only one vase broken although every plant in the house is dead and no-one picked Liz's raspberries. She is seriously pissed off at that. The school stick insects which Liz is looking after during the holiday's also seem to have thinned out somewhat due to lack of nourishment. Now that I am back, it is time to make a real effort to complete my NWN module. Hopefully, it won't take too long now. Watch this space. |
15th June 2003 |
Ok, it's time I updated this, mainly because Liz was reading it and suggested that I update it. I have been a trifle busy with my Neverwinter Nights module which is nearing completion after about 6 months work. Anyway, the bad news is that David was unfortunately unable to join the Army. His eyesight was too bad. The good news is that he and Nicola are still going ahead with their wedding. This was no brainer really since everything had been booked. So the big day is the 11th November. The occasion will be the first time ever that I will have worn a kilt, so it should be novel if nothing else. Christopher has given up his job as a sous chef. The hours and conditions as well as the pay were pretty much crap. He is now working in a call centre selling people unwanted bits for their mobile phones. He now feels that at last he is being able to use the skills which he gained on all those acting courses. Douglas has just finished his Highers and we await the results with trepidation. Well his mother and I do, he doesn't seem to be all that worried. It is now but a couple of weeks before the great American Expedition starts. We fly out on the 30th June and we will be back on the 21st July. Preparations are intensifying, new clothes, new suitcases and a 128Mb memory card for the camera. We have actually planned a route, which will take in about 3000 miles of driving, and will include San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and Yosemite. I have also just got off the phone to a couple of Liz's relatives in the States. It is too complicated to try and figure out exactly what the relationship is but excitingly we will manage to see at least some of them during the trip. So if you are reading this hello Rob and Family :). Of course we will also be calling in on Scorponok, who has promised to show us all of the sights and sounds of his flat, er I mean Yosemite. He has refused however to catch some bugs for us, which I think is completely irresponsible of him. Ok, enough prattle. I have put up a collection of some photos of the family. These are the best so far, I'll try and take some better ones soon. You can find them from the picture menu or if you can't wait click here. |
1st April 2003 |
So the big news now is that David has not only decided to join the Army but has also decided that the time is right for him and Nicola to get married. Yes, nothing big or anything. He has been thinking about things for some time and then just landed it on us all. He is going to join the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, the idea being that he gets trained in something whilst he is getting paid. It's better than a poorly paid and almost impossible to get apprenticeship apparently. So it's all decided then and so wedding plans are in the air. The date is yet to be set but will probably be in November. He will have a fortnight off between basic training and getting his first posting, so that' the time period. He hopes to join up around the end of July. Apart from all of that everything else pales into insignificance. I'm still working on a new mod for Neverwinter Nights, but I'm taking a break from it for a while. Work is fine, everyone else is fine, including the tortoise who has emerged from his hibernation. That's it for now. Oh, and this is not an April Fool! |