Happy Mardi Grad! While I am stuffing my face to excess today, somewhere in the back of my mind is what is going to happen the following 40 days. As I have discovered from my past experiences, these 40 days end up not being so much about sacrificing something, as much as it ends up being about forming new habits. This year for my Lent I am:
Giving up: Soda* - yes, there is an asterisk there. I am not sure how else to do this. I am not going to give up caffeine, at least not this year, and I don't drink coffee, so I kind of have to do this part way. So, I am only going to have soda between the hours of 0800 and 1400*, otherwise it is water. I accept this is part way, but hopefully it will be a good start. If you see me with a soda outside these hours prior to Easter, please feel free to ask about it.
Taking on: My Exercise Program - no provisos here. I am determined to do something every day under the 'something is better than nothing' banner. You can see how I am doing here.
* this was edited, it originally said "0730 and 1330".
16 February 2010
15 February 2010
Second Week in February 2010
Welcome to my description of my week! Now featuring the return of pictures!
Monday was very weird. The first thing was I woke up Monday morning with a decent amount of sleep, but with an odd migraine ... no it was not a hangover, I know what that is like. I took my meds and laid back down, and slept for three more hours. That doesn't happen with migraines. I felt fine after that, but did miss work. The second thing that was odd was waking up from the extended sleep with the complete set of rules for a new game in my head ... this is the second time this has happened to me. I was saying the other one was 18 months ago, but I was still in the house with Kevin then.
This game is much easier to get on paper. I hope to alpha test it sometime soon, I actually have all the rules down, the board set up, and cards designed already, a playable version, not a polished version. I actually have pretty high hopes this will be a fun game, balancing might take a few tries.
Monday night I went to my guitar lesson. Ben R. and I sat and talked for a half an hour after the lesson. I am quite happy with how it is going, and finding ten minutes for practice is turning out to be much easier than I thought.
Tuesday was a regular work day, I went home after work, and nothing exciting happened.
Wednesday after work I met VK at Whole Foods for dinner. We ate and then went wandering around the store. There were a couple interesting items in the cheese section.
This picture came out of the goatcheesecake discussion.
Seriously, who wrote the copy for this "...refreshing goaty tang."
From there we went to UNO's Criss Library to see this exhibit of political posters. A found a couple things to be pretty amazing. A poster for Kennedy for President in Polish. A flyer for a third party candidate for senate that referred to the other two parties as the "DemoGOPs" (some things never change). The thing that moved me most was a small poster of the (Los Angeles) Japanese Internment order. I can think of several reasons it was so moving for me, the first thought is that I know that Kevin's grandfather lives in Los Angeles ... now I have no idea if he, or any member of Kevin's Japanese heritage was ever interned, but it does lend a certain face to the event. The Japanese Internment is one of those things that you'd like to think would never happen again, but of course, there are people I know who would do something similar now without much hesitation. America is the great melting pot, it is a strength, not a problem.
Thursday was a regular work day, I went home after work, and nothing exciting happened. This sounds familiar.
This comic from Wondermark awaited me when I woke up Friday morning.
Yeah, this will be making me laugh for a while.
Friday was a busy day. On the way into work, I dropped my car off at the mechanic to get the brakes fixed, new tires put on, and a new serpentine belt. They were actually able to complete those repairs the same day. It rides like a new car, but it does still have the wheel noise. They now think it's a bad bearing. It'll go back in the shop Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. I'll have a fully functional car again! There was some excitement in the afternoon when I was trying to figure out how to get to the shop to pick up my car ... I'd like to give a big shout out to Rachel for helping me out.
After the car was all picked up, I went home, changed into my once a year pink clothing, and went to meet VK for a Valentine's dinner at Trini's. I had fish tacos, VK had a combination meal. I love fish tacos, and these were excellent.
We did have a nice meal, but we didn't eat like this.
Afterwards we went to the shop right across from Trini's. While we were in there, I saw something small and arty that I had to get for Matt and Vivian.
(in Vivian's hand) It's the sign for I love you that they made/make all the time. I hope they find a nice home for it.
We left there and went to the annual JNO Pink Party. Jenny really toned it down from her display last year, so much so that you have to search to find her in this years pictures.
I asked Lee to take some pictures of VK and I dancing ... Ben thought it was all about him.
Andi went for the subtle Pink Party outfit. Jose is wearing his once a year pink shirt.
It was also Katie's birthday jam. Happy birthday!
Saturday morning I got up and went and met Sarah and Nathon to make some final preparations for the transfer of ownership of Sierra to them. We met at PetsMart and got a few things. I am feeling better and better about this whole deal. If I am going to give her up, I can hardly imagine a better situation for her, Sarah and Nathon are loving and responsible.
I made a quick stop by VK's house and delivered Valentine's day flowers to her. I gave her a bunch of roses, and evidently each one had a different smell to it.
After this I made my way to Ben's apartment. Ben, Maeg, and I finished the game of Arkham Horror that we started back in the last decade. More to the point, the game finished us ... slowly. After two or three turns, it looked like we were going to lose within a couple more turns, but we kept holding on, and holding, and holding, never getting much closer to winning, but just barely hanging on. Finally, mercifully, the world was devoured by Azatloth. Somehow we awoke in an alternate universe and played again, this time using the Innsmouth expansion. Everything went right for us this time, and we easily kicked some ancient one booty.
I came home, and for what ever reason, I was asleep by 2300.
Sunday, I didn't make it to church. I have no really good excuse, I was up and doing chores, and I just set my priorities backwards, and did chores and watched the Daytona 500. Sometime in the middle of the pothole delay, I left to go for Valentine's Day dinner with VK. I stopped by Hy-Vee on the way, and picked up some more flowers ... it was funny, because I had already gotten VK flowers, I didn't really have to get more, so while I was looking around confident already, because I already had given her some, there were a half dozen guys milling about with slumped shoulders and sheepish looks.
Dinner was Steak Gorgonzola.We spent the evening watching the Olympics and being glad we weren't out in the cold.
Next week, Mardi Gras and moving.
Monday was very weird. The first thing was I woke up Monday morning with a decent amount of sleep, but with an odd migraine ... no it was not a hangover, I know what that is like. I took my meds and laid back down, and slept for three more hours. That doesn't happen with migraines. I felt fine after that, but did miss work. The second thing that was odd was waking up from the extended sleep with the complete set of rules for a new game in my head ... this is the second time this has happened to me. I was saying the other one was 18 months ago, but I was still in the house with Kevin then.
This game is much easier to get on paper. I hope to alpha test it sometime soon, I actually have all the rules down, the board set up, and cards designed already, a playable version, not a polished version. I actually have pretty high hopes this will be a fun game, balancing might take a few tries.
Monday night I went to my guitar lesson. Ben R. and I sat and talked for a half an hour after the lesson. I am quite happy with how it is going, and finding ten minutes for practice is turning out to be much easier than I thought.
Tuesday was a regular work day, I went home after work, and nothing exciting happened.
Wednesday after work I met VK at Whole Foods for dinner. We ate and then went wandering around the store. There were a couple interesting items in the cheese section.
This picture came out of the goatcheesecake discussion.
Seriously, who wrote the copy for this "...refreshing goaty tang."
From there we went to UNO's Criss Library to see this exhibit of political posters. A found a couple things to be pretty amazing. A poster for Kennedy for President in Polish. A flyer for a third party candidate for senate that referred to the other two parties as the "DemoGOPs" (some things never change). The thing that moved me most was a small poster of the (Los Angeles) Japanese Internment order. I can think of several reasons it was so moving for me, the first thought is that I know that Kevin's grandfather lives in Los Angeles ... now I have no idea if he, or any member of Kevin's Japanese heritage was ever interned, but it does lend a certain face to the event. The Japanese Internment is one of those things that you'd like to think would never happen again, but of course, there are people I know who would do something similar now without much hesitation. America is the great melting pot, it is a strength, not a problem.
Thursday was a regular work day, I went home after work, and nothing exciting happened. This sounds familiar.
This comic from Wondermark awaited me when I woke up Friday morning.
Yeah, this will be making me laugh for a while.
Friday was a busy day. On the way into work, I dropped my car off at the mechanic to get the brakes fixed, new tires put on, and a new serpentine belt. They were actually able to complete those repairs the same day. It rides like a new car, but it does still have the wheel noise. They now think it's a bad bearing. It'll go back in the shop Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. I'll have a fully functional car again! There was some excitement in the afternoon when I was trying to figure out how to get to the shop to pick up my car ... I'd like to give a big shout out to Rachel for helping me out.
After the car was all picked up, I went home, changed into my once a year pink clothing, and went to meet VK for a Valentine's dinner at Trini's. I had fish tacos, VK had a combination meal. I love fish tacos, and these were excellent.
We did have a nice meal, but we didn't eat like this.
Afterwards we went to the shop right across from Trini's. While we were in there, I saw something small and arty that I had to get for Matt and Vivian.
(in Vivian's hand) It's the sign for I love you that they made/make all the time. I hope they find a nice home for it.
We left there and went to the annual JNO Pink Party. Jenny really toned it down from her display last year, so much so that you have to search to find her in this years pictures.
I asked Lee to take some pictures of VK and I dancing ... Ben thought it was all about him.
Andi went for the subtle Pink Party outfit. Jose is wearing his once a year pink shirt.
It was also Katie's birthday jam. Happy birthday!
Saturday morning I got up and went and met Sarah and Nathon to make some final preparations for the transfer of ownership of Sierra to them. We met at PetsMart and got a few things. I am feeling better and better about this whole deal. If I am going to give her up, I can hardly imagine a better situation for her, Sarah and Nathon are loving and responsible.
I made a quick stop by VK's house and delivered Valentine's day flowers to her. I gave her a bunch of roses, and evidently each one had a different smell to it.
After this I made my way to Ben's apartment. Ben, Maeg, and I finished the game of Arkham Horror that we started back in the last decade. More to the point, the game finished us ... slowly. After two or three turns, it looked like we were going to lose within a couple more turns, but we kept holding on, and holding, and holding, never getting much closer to winning, but just barely hanging on. Finally, mercifully, the world was devoured by Azatloth. Somehow we awoke in an alternate universe and played again, this time using the Innsmouth expansion. Everything went right for us this time, and we easily kicked some ancient one booty.
I came home, and for what ever reason, I was asleep by 2300.
Sunday, I didn't make it to church. I have no really good excuse, I was up and doing chores, and I just set my priorities backwards, and did chores and watched the Daytona 500. Sometime in the middle of the pothole delay, I left to go for Valentine's Day dinner with VK. I stopped by Hy-Vee on the way, and picked up some more flowers ... it was funny, because I had already gotten VK flowers, I didn't really have to get more, so while I was looking around confident already, because I already had given her some, there were a half dozen guys milling about with slumped shoulders and sheepish looks.
Dinner was Steak Gorgonzola.
Next week, Mardi Gras and moving.
09 February 2010
First Week in February 2010
Welcome to February 2010. One good thing about time moving faster as you get older, winters are quicker.
Monday night I finally had my first guitar lesson. I noticed something interesting between my seeing pictures of me when I first started dancing, and my lessons and practice so far. When I started dancing I looked at my feet the whole time, now I am looking at the guitar strings the whole time.
Tuesday replaced Wednesday as the usual mid week date night. The plans changed at the last minute due to circumstances being my control (had to work late). When I finally left work, I headed over to VK's and she made spaghetti with meatballs. I ate a lot. We then watched Lost, or she did anyways. I can see why people like it, but sitting through all those inane commercials, oy vay.
Wednesday I went home from work and pretty much did nothing, then I went to bed. Yawn.
Thursday was game night at CJ's. Last time there was a game night at CJ's, there was a snowstorm. This time, there was a snowstorm. Not of course that it's been really hard lately to pick a random date and get a snowstorm, but it did lead to the most interesting moment of the evening. I went to pick Kevin up at his house, I turned into the driveway under five mph, and just slid. I had plenty of time (15-20 seconds) to consider what to do before I hit the garage, so I kind of turned into a snow bank to slow down, it worked. Kevin and I then drove to Troy and Merinda's, piled into her four wheel drive vehicle, and she drove to CJ's.
I turned out to be more social for me than actual game playing. I ate a bunch of tacos, watched, and talked. Eventually I played one game of Shadow Hunters with the expansion pack, I didn't think my character had much of a chance of winning due to the number of players (we had nine in an eight player game). My opinion on the expansion will be held for a while until I've played a few times.
After this we played few large games of Fluxx with both the regular Fluxx game cards and the Monty Python Fluxx cards mixed together, it was the usual chaos. I learned to play Fluxx on Stoner Fluxx, and I like that best. I realize this may be heretical, but I really don't like Monty Python Fluxx. I love Monty Python because of the absurdity, and I like Fluxx in part because of the randomness, and both for the humor. For me, the combination of the two is neither fun nor funny.
Then we played a new game based on a book (or series) that Merinda had read, Pillars of the Earth. I think this game has potential to be a real favorite. Simple enough to learn quickly, complex enough to want to play again, and my favorite, there seemed to be many valid strategies. I haven't been so interested in a game since I started playing Ra. It was myself, Merinda, Ben, and Kaleb playing the game. Kaleb was the one that knew the rules ... yes, Kaleb won, and yes, the usual happened with a mid/late game rule clarification/implementation, I may need to start reading the rules prior to playing anything new. These circumstances aside, I really enjoyed this game, I may have to buy it.
Friday night The Grand Marquis was playing live at JNO and let me tell you, I was ready to dance. So much so that I had my camera, but didn't take any pictures. I had a good time dancing, and did a little talking too.
Saturday during the day I moved my first load over to the new house. I figure it's about 15% of what I need to move. I'll be moving things slowly over the next few weeks, and then try to finish with a flurry on the 20th.
Saturday evening VK and I went out to dinner. We discussed about forty places before we ended up at Vivace. I got a steak panini, and it was quite good. Unfortunately, VK's meal was not quite as good, it was called lamb piadini, and it tasted like the lamb was marinated in pickle juice (my words). So, both times I've been to Vivace, someone has had an unacceptably bad meal (first time it was me). It's going to be difficult to get me to go back.
After this we went over to visit with Matt and Vivian, and have some goatcheesecake that she made. Yes, Viv insisted that she made it with goat cheese, I'm not buying that, but regardless, it was tasty. We also had some fun with Matt's MacBook camera, it might someday see the light of youtube.
Sunday "morning" I got up and went to church. I went to "scout day" Mass, so the church was full of Scouts. It was fun. I was not a scout, I just didn't like it, although looking back, it's one of two things I would have liked my parents to make me stick with, that and piano lessons. In any case, if I ever have children, I would like scouting to be a part of their lives.
The last time I looked at Foursquare on Saturday, I was winning for the week fairly handily. I wasn't obsessing, I just hadn't won amongst my friends since I started playing (except for the first week). I was looking forward to the victory, which, of course, means nothing. However, when I checked the score early Sunday afternoon, Ben C. was winning. Huh? So I did what any American would do when confronted with someone cheating at a game. I stretched the rules as far as I could, and ran a bunch of unnecessary errands. The result, victory!
The final event of the day was the Super Bowl party at CJs. We had a good combination of football fans and non-fans. In the first quarter of the game we had a drinking game that was take a sip every time someone said "Manning or Brees", it wasn't how much I drank, it was how fast it kept coming. VK wisely quit that game after the second drink. At the start of the second quarter it went to every first down, but by then I was done. I then went off to play airhockey with Lydia. Pool with Tom and Tony. I came up at the end of the halftime show, no Who for me, and missed the onside kick. We then as a group missed the interception because we were DVRing the 'Green Police' ad to see if that was a monkey or an anteater, it was an anteater. Many thanks to CJ for hosting and the food, I think I speak for all when I say a good time was had all around.
A final word on the football season. The predictions I made for the season can be found here, as you can see, both of the Super Bowl teams were in my playoff prediction, but not the ones I chose for the big game. Congratulations, I am happy for the Saints winning for three reasons:
1) they are the NFC team, I like that.
2) they seem human, the Colts are robots.
3) New Orleans makes for a good story.
Next season doesn't seem to offer much hope to Bears fans, so I'm not sure I'll enjoy the off season. Also, thank you CBS for doing such a good job on the game, it was football-centric, and you kept the camera off of those stupid 'family reaction' shots.
Until next time...
Monday night I finally had my first guitar lesson. I noticed something interesting between my seeing pictures of me when I first started dancing, and my lessons and practice so far. When I started dancing I looked at my feet the whole time, now I am looking at the guitar strings the whole time.
Tuesday replaced Wednesday as the usual mid week date night. The plans changed at the last minute due to circumstances being my control (had to work late). When I finally left work, I headed over to VK's and she made spaghetti with meatballs. I ate a lot. We then watched Lost, or she did anyways. I can see why people like it, but sitting through all those inane commercials, oy vay.
Wednesday I went home from work and pretty much did nothing, then I went to bed. Yawn.
Thursday was game night at CJ's. Last time there was a game night at CJ's, there was a snowstorm. This time, there was a snowstorm. Not of course that it's been really hard lately to pick a random date and get a snowstorm, but it did lead to the most interesting moment of the evening. I went to pick Kevin up at his house, I turned into the driveway under five mph, and just slid. I had plenty of time (15-20 seconds) to consider what to do before I hit the garage, so I kind of turned into a snow bank to slow down, it worked. Kevin and I then drove to Troy and Merinda's, piled into her four wheel drive vehicle, and she drove to CJ's.
I turned out to be more social for me than actual game playing. I ate a bunch of tacos, watched, and talked. Eventually I played one game of Shadow Hunters with the expansion pack, I didn't think my character had much of a chance of winning due to the number of players (we had nine in an eight player game). My opinion on the expansion will be held for a while until I've played a few times.
After this we played few large games of Fluxx with both the regular Fluxx game cards and the Monty Python Fluxx cards mixed together, it was the usual chaos. I learned to play Fluxx on Stoner Fluxx, and I like that best. I realize this may be heretical, but I really don't like Monty Python Fluxx. I love Monty Python because of the absurdity, and I like Fluxx in part because of the randomness, and both for the humor. For me, the combination of the two is neither fun nor funny.
Then we played a new game based on a book (or series) that Merinda had read, Pillars of the Earth. I think this game has potential to be a real favorite. Simple enough to learn quickly, complex enough to want to play again, and my favorite, there seemed to be many valid strategies. I haven't been so interested in a game since I started playing Ra. It was myself, Merinda, Ben, and Kaleb playing the game. Kaleb was the one that knew the rules ... yes, Kaleb won, and yes, the usual happened with a mid/late game rule clarification/implementation, I may need to start reading the rules prior to playing anything new. These circumstances aside, I really enjoyed this game, I may have to buy it.
Friday night The Grand Marquis was playing live at JNO and let me tell you, I was ready to dance. So much so that I had my camera, but didn't take any pictures. I had a good time dancing, and did a little talking too.
Saturday during the day I moved my first load over to the new house. I figure it's about 15% of what I need to move. I'll be moving things slowly over the next few weeks, and then try to finish with a flurry on the 20th.
Saturday evening VK and I went out to dinner. We discussed about forty places before we ended up at Vivace. I got a steak panini, and it was quite good. Unfortunately, VK's meal was not quite as good, it was called lamb piadini, and it tasted like the lamb was marinated in pickle juice (my words). So, both times I've been to Vivace, someone has had an unacceptably bad meal (first time it was me). It's going to be difficult to get me to go back.
After this we went over to visit with Matt and Vivian, and have some goatcheesecake that she made. Yes, Viv insisted that she made it with goat cheese, I'm not buying that, but regardless, it was tasty. We also had some fun with Matt's MacBook camera, it might someday see the light of youtube.
Sunday "morning" I got up and went to church. I went to "scout day" Mass, so the church was full of Scouts. It was fun. I was not a scout, I just didn't like it, although looking back, it's one of two things I would have liked my parents to make me stick with, that and piano lessons. In any case, if I ever have children, I would like scouting to be a part of their lives.
The last time I looked at Foursquare on Saturday, I was winning for the week fairly handily. I wasn't obsessing, I just hadn't won amongst my friends since I started playing (except for the first week). I was looking forward to the victory, which, of course, means nothing. However, when I checked the score early Sunday afternoon, Ben C. was winning. Huh? So I did what any American would do when confronted with someone cheating at a game. I stretched the rules as far as I could, and ran a bunch of unnecessary errands. The result, victory!
The final event of the day was the Super Bowl party at CJs. We had a good combination of football fans and non-fans. In the first quarter of the game we had a drinking game that was take a sip every time someone said "Manning or Brees", it wasn't how much I drank, it was how fast it kept coming. VK wisely quit that game after the second drink. At the start of the second quarter it went to every first down, but by then I was done. I then went off to play airhockey with Lydia. Pool with Tom and Tony. I came up at the end of the halftime show, no Who for me, and missed the onside kick. We then as a group missed the interception because we were DVRing the 'Green Police' ad to see if that was a monkey or an anteater, it was an anteater. Many thanks to CJ for hosting and the food, I think I speak for all when I say a good time was had all around.
A final word on the football season. The predictions I made for the season can be found here, as you can see, both of the Super Bowl teams were in my playoff prediction, but not the ones I chose for the big game. Congratulations, I am happy for the Saints winning for three reasons:
1) they are the NFC team, I like that.
2) they seem human, the Colts are robots.
3) New Orleans makes for a good story.
Next season doesn't seem to offer much hope to Bears fans, so I'm not sure I'll enjoy the off season. Also, thank you CBS for doing such a good job on the game, it was football-centric, and you kept the camera off of those stupid 'family reaction' shots.
Until next time...
05 February 2010
Top Ten Board Games / Early 2010 Edition
I got to thinking about the board games I like to play. I came up with this list of my "top ten" games I like to play. I used Wikipedia links for more information, instead of my usual Board Game Geek links. This list is in order, but it's highly fluid.
1. Boggle
I don't quite know what it is about this game, it might be the noise, the rapid pace, or that I tend to win at it, but I am almost always ready to play and I won't get bored by it. I think of myself as being way above average in pattern recognition, so this game uses one of the things I think is a strength.
2. Cut Throat Solitaire / Nertz
I liked this game growing up, but I didn't fall in love with it until I met Vivian. It's another game that I tend to win at, is fast paced, really fast paced, and has the added attraction of a whole lot of trash talking with the group I play with. I think the secret to this game is play your own cards at a non-frentic pace. I know I have above average peripheral vision, so that might help.
3. Dungeons and Dragons
What can you say about the granddaddy of role playing games? I spent my high school years in Harvard, Illinois, close enough to the home of TSR games in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin that I rode my bike there. I think that people with low social skills have ruined this game for the masses, it is essentially, a social interaction game. If I could find the right group of people to play, it would be a weekly appointment right up there in importance with swing dancing.
4. Ra
Even after 30 or more plays of this game, against quite a few smart game players, I am unconvinced that there is one dominate strategy choice ... or two, or three. It's as balanced of a game as I've ever played. It's made by Rio Grande Games, who makes some really good games, but this is my favorite.
5. Georgia Dice / 10,000
Georgia Dice is a variant to 10,000, I learned it from my step-father. My mother and I play this a lot when we visit. With my family involved, there can be a lot of trash talking. I'm not discounting that there may be strong positive emotions that tie me to liking this game, rather than the game itself, but I'll still play whenever I have six dice and a score pad.
6. Arkham Horror
This will probably not make Ben or Maeg happy, but I'm not really interested in the mythos of Cthulhu, but I am interested in the game. It's one of the few cooperative games that I really like. It is very well balanced as far as number of players, and if I remember correctly, I think Ben has played it solo. Although it is a "character card" game, they are so numerous and varied (the villains too), I cannot imagine running out of combinations. Interestingly enough, Ben, Maeg, and I have played over google wave.
7. Werewolf / Mafia
A definite crowd / party game, but a thinking one more than a clever one. Generally we play this as "Lupus en Tabula". No game I play regularly elicits more whining than this one, people want to play and win. It has a couple of my most memorable game playing moments, me punking Hugh during a game at Stacy's house, and me being punked by a seven year old at Kaleb's. As Becky might say "good times, good times."
8. Settlers of Catan
Let's just get it out of the way now, yes, I have wood for your sheep. I actually get frustrated by the fact almost no one wants to play this game. I need my own copy of it. This is the first game that I played with the concept of 'victory points'. It's a fun game with 'replayability' that can be played with virtually no conflict between the players, or quite contentiously.
9. Euchre
My favorite 'bidding' card game, this one too has a strong family component. This was one of two or three card games that I played once I got into my teens. It's a partner card game, so you'd better be able to figure out how to cooperate without table talk. Has a three handed variant called Dirty Clubs. "Stealing the deal", welcome to my family ... nice try Carl.
10. Quirkle
I'll admit it, the reason I like this brightly colored matching game is because I seem to be on a long winning streak. It's a pattern recognition game, and seems to play into my game playing skills. Quite a wide range of my friends play, have played, or know about this game. Simple, yet can be played as strategically as you want.
Of course no top ten is complete with out the next ten.
11. Shadow Hunters. No Wikipedia page, weird. Makes for some epic games.
12. Balderdash. My original favorite social/party game.
13. Blackjack. Who me, gamble?
14. Scrabble. I'm sure I'm not as good as I think I am.
15. Cribbage. A Scottish game, like golf, exists only to frustrate (me).
16. Hearts. When I was in the military, and lived in the dorms, this was played non stop every non-payday weekend.
17. Poker (Texas Hold 'Em). Yeah, I'm not so good at poker, it's the bluffing thing.
18. Dominoes. I'm not sure why, but I just like this game.
19. Betrayal at House on the Hill. I think I would get bored of this if I played it all the time, but I don't, so...
20. Giza. No Wikipedia page, not as surprising. Not a great game as much as a good game to play while talking.
And two new (to me) games that I don't know enough about yet, but I think they are moving up the list. Neither has a Wikipedia entry. Pillars of the Earth, played one time, last night. And Tales of the Arabian Nights, work the following day got in the way of me finishing the one game I started, but I still ended up with a story.
1. Boggle
I don't quite know what it is about this game, it might be the noise, the rapid pace, or that I tend to win at it, but I am almost always ready to play and I won't get bored by it. I think of myself as being way above average in pattern recognition, so this game uses one of the things I think is a strength.
2. Cut Throat Solitaire / Nertz
I liked this game growing up, but I didn't fall in love with it until I met Vivian. It's another game that I tend to win at, is fast paced, really fast paced, and has the added attraction of a whole lot of trash talking with the group I play with. I think the secret to this game is play your own cards at a non-frentic pace. I know I have above average peripheral vision, so that might help.
3. Dungeons and Dragons
What can you say about the granddaddy of role playing games? I spent my high school years in Harvard, Illinois, close enough to the home of TSR games in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin that I rode my bike there. I think that people with low social skills have ruined this game for the masses, it is essentially, a social interaction game. If I could find the right group of people to play, it would be a weekly appointment right up there in importance with swing dancing.
4. Ra
Even after 30 or more plays of this game, against quite a few smart game players, I am unconvinced that there is one dominate strategy choice ... or two, or three. It's as balanced of a game as I've ever played. It's made by Rio Grande Games, who makes some really good games, but this is my favorite.
5. Georgia Dice / 10,000
Georgia Dice is a variant to 10,000, I learned it from my step-father. My mother and I play this a lot when we visit. With my family involved, there can be a lot of trash talking. I'm not discounting that there may be strong positive emotions that tie me to liking this game, rather than the game itself, but I'll still play whenever I have six dice and a score pad.
6. Arkham Horror
This will probably not make Ben or Maeg happy, but I'm not really interested in the mythos of Cthulhu, but I am interested in the game. It's one of the few cooperative games that I really like. It is very well balanced as far as number of players, and if I remember correctly, I think Ben has played it solo. Although it is a "character card" game, they are so numerous and varied (the villains too), I cannot imagine running out of combinations. Interestingly enough, Ben, Maeg, and I have played over google wave.
7. Werewolf / Mafia
A definite crowd / party game, but a thinking one more than a clever one. Generally we play this as "Lupus en Tabula". No game I play regularly elicits more whining than this one, people want to play and win. It has a couple of my most memorable game playing moments, me punking Hugh during a game at Stacy's house, and me being punked by a seven year old at Kaleb's. As Becky might say "good times, good times."
8. Settlers of Catan
Let's just get it out of the way now, yes, I have wood for your sheep. I actually get frustrated by the fact almost no one wants to play this game. I need my own copy of it. This is the first game that I played with the concept of 'victory points'. It's a fun game with 'replayability' that can be played with virtually no conflict between the players, or quite contentiously.
9. Euchre
My favorite 'bidding' card game, this one too has a strong family component. This was one of two or three card games that I played once I got into my teens. It's a partner card game, so you'd better be able to figure out how to cooperate without table talk. Has a three handed variant called Dirty Clubs. "Stealing the deal", welcome to my family ... nice try Carl.
10. Quirkle
I'll admit it, the reason I like this brightly colored matching game is because I seem to be on a long winning streak. It's a pattern recognition game, and seems to play into my game playing skills. Quite a wide range of my friends play, have played, or know about this game. Simple, yet can be played as strategically as you want.
Of course no top ten is complete with out the next ten.
11. Shadow Hunters. No Wikipedia page, weird. Makes for some epic games.
12. Balderdash. My original favorite social/party game.
13. Blackjack. Who me, gamble?
14. Scrabble. I'm sure I'm not as good as I think I am.
15. Cribbage. A Scottish game, like golf, exists only to frustrate (me).
16. Hearts. When I was in the military, and lived in the dorms, this was played non stop every non-payday weekend.
17. Poker (Texas Hold 'Em). Yeah, I'm not so good at poker, it's the bluffing thing.
18. Dominoes. I'm not sure why, but I just like this game.
19. Betrayal at House on the Hill. I think I would get bored of this if I played it all the time, but I don't, so...
20. Giza. No Wikipedia page, not as surprising. Not a great game as much as a good game to play while talking.
And two new (to me) games that I don't know enough about yet, but I think they are moving up the list. Neither has a Wikipedia entry. Pillars of the Earth, played one time, last night. And Tales of the Arabian Nights, work the following day got in the way of me finishing the one game I started, but I still ended up with a story.
01 February 2010
Fourth Week in January 2010
This hasn't happened in such a long time that I can barely complain about it, but I just lost a post in progress. So now for the reconstruction.
Monday was supposed to be my first guitar lesson. It didn't happen. As I drove home from work on Monday I encountered several white-out areas along highway 370 and also on 25th Street. It was all blowing snow, and I probably panicked, but I sure don't like driving in conditions like that.
Tuesday I continued the work I had started on uploading old pictures from 2004 and 2005. This included some of the first pictures I have from when I started dancing.
Wednesday after work I went to VK's, we had a 'kids' dinner of hot dogs and mac'n'cheese.
Thursday was the big day. I paid off my car! Naturally it didn't start later on that night. I am hoping now that it lasts long enough for me to be able to fix it. Thursday night after work I met Troy at Chipotle for dinner, then we went to the house to do some work in the basement, finally watching him play some Mass Effect 2.
Friday was a half day at work, yay! VK and I went, with Merinda and Troy to see a movie. Yes, I said movie. We saw "Book of Eli" at Twin Creek. I liked the show. One of the things that frustrates me about movies (TV) is bad and/or predictable writing. This movie actually caught me by surprise with the plot twist at the end, although I could have seen it coming from the clues in the movie. I also enjoy cinematography, and I think the photography of the movie could have had more done with it, particularly in the framing of the shots. It was nice to see a movie out of Hollywood with a God centered message.
After the movie we went out to eat at Lo Sole Mio, the completion of my Christmas gifts for VK. I tried something different, pasta e spinci (I think, my Italian is bad), it was quite good, but not exactly what I was hungry for. I should have gotten something else. Of all the big chain restaurants, I probably like Olive Garden the best, but seriously, for the practically the same cost, you can go to Lo Sole Mio and get much better food.
Next up on the agenda, Jitterbugs! It wasn't quite as 'young' as I have seen it lately. I mostly stuck to dancing with people I know. Lately at Jitterbugs, I have been taking more time to talk with people than to just dance, I think this is a good development. I credit a conversation with Vivian to get me on this track ... good job!
After all that food at Lo Sole Mio, you expected to see us dancing? As a side note, what is wrong with my hair?
Maggie's hair did the same thing mine does when she took off the hat.
Three out of four people pictured here knows how to pose for a picture, sorry Ben.
You can see these and the rest of the photos from my camera here. The long date with VK made for a special day.
Saturday turned out to be not quite as fun as you would imagine. I took my leftovers over to Troy and Merinda's and was hanging out with Troy. He was playing Mass Effect 2, and I was watching. I don't know if it was too much food, the motion sickness I get from watching Troy play, or what, but I had a monster of a migraine develop. I was home and in bed asleep by 2100 if not before.
Sunday I woke up feeling much better, and headed off to church, which I enjoyed. After church I went to the grocery store. As I was shopping I noticed that Troy posted around 1315 that he was going to lunch in twenty minutes and wanted company. I dropped off my groceries and headed to meet Troy at his house ... around 1530 we (me, Troy, CJ, and Maeg) finally got to a restaurant ... twenty minutes, two and a quarter hours, what's the difference?!?! We ate at China Buffet / Mongolian Grill, I think I finally have a sauce I like a lot. Three yummy, one garlic oil, and half teaspoon of chili paste.
After this we went back to Chez Troy. CJ took off and we played a couple of games of Chrononauts. I had the dreaded "Your parents never met" card played on me ... suddenly I felt different. I didn't win, that game doesn't go well for me.
At 1830 I met Sarah and Nathon at my apartment so they could meet Sierra, who will be joining their family in the next few weeks. I will miss her, but I find it difficult to imagine a better new family for Sierra. VK was there to support me. I think things went just a little better than I expected. Sierra investigated them and stayed in the room with us most of the time. Sometime shortly I will be taking her over there and it will be just me and Zeke. It's sad, happy, and practical all the same time.
Monday was supposed to be my first guitar lesson. It didn't happen. As I drove home from work on Monday I encountered several white-out areas along highway 370 and also on 25th Street. It was all blowing snow, and I probably panicked, but I sure don't like driving in conditions like that.
Tuesday I continued the work I had started on uploading old pictures from 2004 and 2005. This included some of the first pictures I have from when I started dancing.
Wednesday after work I went to VK's, we had a 'kids' dinner of hot dogs and mac'n'cheese.
Thursday was the big day. I paid off my car! Naturally it didn't start later on that night. I am hoping now that it lasts long enough for me to be able to fix it. Thursday night after work I met Troy at Chipotle for dinner, then we went to the house to do some work in the basement, finally watching him play some Mass Effect 2.
Friday was a half day at work, yay! VK and I went, with Merinda and Troy to see a movie. Yes, I said movie. We saw "Book of Eli" at Twin Creek. I liked the show. One of the things that frustrates me about movies (TV) is bad and/or predictable writing. This movie actually caught me by surprise with the plot twist at the end, although I could have seen it coming from the clues in the movie. I also enjoy cinematography, and I think the photography of the movie could have had more done with it, particularly in the framing of the shots. It was nice to see a movie out of Hollywood with a God centered message.
After the movie we went out to eat at Lo Sole Mio, the completion of my Christmas gifts for VK. I tried something different, pasta e spinci (I think, my Italian is bad), it was quite good, but not exactly what I was hungry for. I should have gotten something else. Of all the big chain restaurants, I probably like Olive Garden the best, but seriously, for the practically the same cost, you can go to Lo Sole Mio and get much better food.
Next up on the agenda, Jitterbugs! It wasn't quite as 'young' as I have seen it lately. I mostly stuck to dancing with people I know. Lately at Jitterbugs, I have been taking more time to talk with people than to just dance, I think this is a good development. I credit a conversation with Vivian to get me on this track ... good job!
After all that food at Lo Sole Mio, you expected to see us dancing? As a side note, what is wrong with my hair?
Maggie's hair did the same thing mine does when she took off the hat.
Three out of four people pictured here knows how to pose for a picture, sorry Ben.
You can see these and the rest of the photos from my camera here. The long date with VK made for a special day.
Saturday turned out to be not quite as fun as you would imagine. I took my leftovers over to Troy and Merinda's and was hanging out with Troy. He was playing Mass Effect 2, and I was watching. I don't know if it was too much food, the motion sickness I get from watching Troy play, or what, but I had a monster of a migraine develop. I was home and in bed asleep by 2100 if not before.
Sunday I woke up feeling much better, and headed off to church, which I enjoyed. After church I went to the grocery store. As I was shopping I noticed that Troy posted around 1315 that he was going to lunch in twenty minutes and wanted company. I dropped off my groceries and headed to meet Troy at his house ... around 1530 we (me, Troy, CJ, and Maeg) finally got to a restaurant ... twenty minutes, two and a quarter hours, what's the difference?!?! We ate at China Buffet / Mongolian Grill, I think I finally have a sauce I like a lot. Three yummy, one garlic oil, and half teaspoon of chili paste.
After this we went back to Chez Troy. CJ took off and we played a couple of games of Chrononauts. I had the dreaded "Your parents never met" card played on me ... suddenly I felt different. I didn't win, that game doesn't go well for me.
At 1830 I met Sarah and Nathon at my apartment so they could meet Sierra, who will be joining their family in the next few weeks. I will miss her, but I find it difficult to imagine a better new family for Sierra. VK was there to support me. I think things went just a little better than I expected. Sierra investigated them and stayed in the room with us most of the time. Sometime shortly I will be taking her over there and it will be just me and Zeke. It's sad, happy, and practical all the same time.
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