Twitchcon 2018!

UPDATE: I no longer support the streamer that I originally mentioned in this blog entry and who had invited me to Twitchcon 2018.  Their name has been removed from the entry and the modified portions of this article have been highlighted in red.

You may recall that I recently blogged about getting back into streaming on Twitch.tv.  In addition to that, the game I'm mostly streaming (Fortnite) is designed in a way that makes it easy to meet and play with people from the online community that I've never met or talked to before.  In the past few months alone, I have met so many people from Fortnite and online from Twitch, more than I have in past years with StarCraft 2.

Hence came Twitchcon 2018.  It didn't really cross my mind at the time to attend, but when I found out a streamer I followed on Twitch would be attending and was looking for people to meet and greet there, I decided to join in on the fun.  Twitchcon took place on October 26-28 in San Jose, CA.

The first day at Twitchcon was not pleasant.  I had to wait in line for 4 hours just to receive my badge that allowed entry into the convention.  By the time I had finally gotten my badge, there was just two hours to look around inside before the first day was closed.  I've been to E3 twice and their line for badges runs so smoothly (30 minutes or less), but I hear that the San Jose Convention Center just didn't plan well for the amount of attendees for this event.  At least on Friday night there was a Twitchcon party at a football stadium where they had music, drinks, and some outdoor games.  So the day was not a total loss.

The next day we were able to get in without any waiting and everything ran much smoother.  Twitchcon is a lot like other conventions in that there is are plenty of exhibits to see.  Obviously the exhibit I looked forward to most was the Fortnite arena. :)

Epic Games did an amazing job with all the props and costumes within their exhibit and the Fall Skirmish was also streamed live from Twitchcon.  If you were watching, you could find me in the audience waving my arms around haha.

The final day was geared towards supporting the streamer I was there to meet.  Unfortunately, I no longer support that streamer due to personal reasons and have since left their Twitch community.  The trip was not a complete loss in the long run, because I still met other streamers there that I still support and have befriended online.

Andy Lin's Lickity List (Amazing $10 Authentic Meals in Tucson)

Welcome to Andy Lin's Lickity List!  Only restaurants that are unique to Tucson can be found on this list.  The other great part is that it's all very cheap - around $10 for an amazing meal!  I usually stick to the same item off the menu at these places to satisfy the craving of a meal I haven't had in a while.

This list will be a running log that I will update whenever I go to one of my several favorite restaurants in Tucson, so be sure to check back for my latest recommendations via the link under my Hot Topics section!

Andy Lin's Lickity List
Amazing $10 Authentic Meals in Tucson

Wings and Rice
5502 E Pima Road
Tucson, AZ 85712
Date Visited: Aug 8, 2018
Style: American Chinese
Go-To-Lick: 6 Wings (Combo Special)
Price: $13.03 including tax

Raves: Privately owned restaurants shine in Tucson, almost one on every corner.  This next place to hit the Lickity List has been around for many years: Wings and Rice.  It is literally what it sounds like, fried chicken wings tossed in sauce and served with a side of fried rice.  But what makes this place so special is the fried rice.  They top it with their "Japanese White Sauce", which is unlike anything I've ever had on traditional Chinese fried rice.  My recommendation for the Go-To-Lick here is the 6 Wings combo special that comes with a large fried rice and a fountain drink.  You could order the items a la carte but at that point it basically adds up to a free drink anyway.  They have a ton of wing flavors, but my favorite is the Spicy Italian and I've also enjoyed Garlic Parmesan.

Shown above is the 10 Wings combo, which you can go for if you want to eat half and save the rest for another meal. :) You're probably wondering why I don't get hot wings here, but it's because I tried them and the flavor doesn't stand out above anywhere else you'd go for hot wings.  Finally, I have not tried anything else on the menu to make any additional recommendations here.


China Szechwan
1800 E Fort Lowell Rd
Tucson, AZ 85719
Date Visited: Mar 28, 2017
Style: Sichuan
Go-To-Lick: Water-Boiled Fish
Price: $10.75 including tax 
Read this review. 


Ikkyu
2040 W Orange Grove Rd
Tucson, AZ 85704
Date Visited: Jun 25, 2016
Style: Japanese
Go-To-Lick: Tonkotsu Ramen
Price: $8.33 including tax
Read this review. 


Sher-E-Punjab
853 E Grant Rd
Tucson, AZ 85719
Date Visited: September 24, 2015
Style: Indian
Go-To-Lick: Lamb Vindaloo with Basmati Rice
Price: $12.44 including tax
Read this Review.


BK Tacos & Hotdogs
5118 S 12th Ave
Tucson, AZ 85706
Date Visited: August 21, 2014
Style: Sonora Mexican
Go-To-Lick: Large Caramelo Asada
Price: $6.78 including tax 
Read this Review.


Saing Thai Cuisine
9136 E Valencia Rd
Tucson, AZ 85747
Date Visited: June 19, 2014
Style: Thai
Go-To-Lick: Pad Kee Mao
Price: $8.59 including tax 
Read this Review.


Frog & Firkin
874 East University Blvd
Tucson, AZ 85719 
Date Visited: May 12, 2014
Style: English Pub
Go-To-Lick: The Firkin Burger with Cheese
Price: $9.13 including tax 
Read this Review.


El Guero Canelo
2480 North Oracle Road
Tucson, AZ 85705 
Date Visited: May 3, 2014
Style: Sonora Mexican
Go-To-Lick: 2x Carne Asada Burro Jr. with Extra Cheese
Price: $9.27 including tax 
Read this Review.


Andy Lin is your typical Tucson resident and is not a food connoisseur.  He is simply a man who knows what pleases his tastebuds and belly.   Special thanks to Nate M. and Matt H. for help with coming up with a title for this list.

New Bowling Ball (3rd lifetime)!

You may recall in 2014 that I bought a new ball for the IBM Bowling League.  I had pretty high expectations for that ball, but over the course of a couple years, I started to struggle with it.  Part of that could be attributed to getting older or the fact that I was undertaking a lot of additional activities (such as basketball league and learning to play golf).  Below you'll find my averages with this ball for the past four years:

As you can see, my average started to tail off the past two years.  Despite my poor averages, our team still won the championship both years.  Regardless, I felt the need for a new ball before this season, so I got myself another Storm ball, the Code Red!

I bought the ball off bowling.com for $158 and then had it drilled for $45, so it was about the same price as the previous ball.  We'll have to see how this generation of bowling goes and hopefully I can return to some 190+ averages!

Officially a Twitch Affiliate!

When I first started streaming myself playing StarCraft 2 on Justin.tv back in 2011, I didn't have any expectations for what my stream would become.  I mostly just wanted to capture my gameplay and share it with friends who wanted to watch whenever I happened to be playing.  I started out by using Flash Live Media Encoder to stream my games, which was mostly a command-line interface at first.

Soon after I joined Justin.tv, the site moved all gamers over to Twitch.tv, their new domain for video game streamers.  I switched over to FFSplit as my streaming tool and advertised my stream on places like Facebook, Team Liquid, and my blog.  Eventually another IBMer in Tucson found my blog by googling "IBM Starcraft 2".  It was then that I met other players from IBM, which would eventually transpire into our competition in the After Hours Gaming League.  It was my "career" in StarCraft 2 that I grew the most as a name in the community.  But eventually as the game of StarCraft 2 became less popular and the After Hours Gaming League went on hiatus, I stopped streaming for a majority of 2016-17.

The Affiliate program for Twitch started in April of 2017, but I didn't start streaming again until 2018.  At this point, my computer was not as powerful to produce the same quality as other streams out there, but I wanted to share the experience of IBM's return to the After Hours Gaming League in the 2018 season.  I would eventually upgrade my system and with the help of Streamlabs OBS, I was producing a quality stream once again.  However, since StarCraft 2 was just not a popular a game anymore, I had to move elsewhere to maintain viewership, and I found that in Fortnite Battle Royale.

As of August 1st, I was officially invited to join the Affiliate program with Twitch, where I can start making money when playing video games.  And just like when I started streaming back in 2011, I will continue to temper my expectations here.

Twitch will only pay out once you've earned past a minimum $100 threshold.  I'm guessing my earnings over time will be similar to the AdSense for my blog - I've earned $91 since 2010 and still haven't been able to cash out.  Regardless, it's been fun to get here and I'm looking forward to many more days of streaming!

Feel free to follow along at https://www.twitch.tv/atrain64