It's early in the morning and I'm downstairs with Alexis in
the car seat. Lee is crashed out. Every so often, she wonders out
loud at the events of the past few days. "Wow, SHE came out
of ME!" I've changed most of the diapers so far, and the
changing table we've set up in Alex's room is working great.
Lee's mom is coming in sometime today. I hope I get a nap.
In other news, I'm being lazy about plugging in my new
computer and doing the monitor-swapping. Once I plug that in, I
have to do a bunch of other computer stuff, and I just don't have
the energy.
I passed the time by going on Ebay and reporting fraudulent or
abusive items to the moderators. There's some dingus in Atlanta
selling 50 filled-out Subway cards. Yeeeah, surely that's legal.
He even admits in the description that the coupons explicitly say
they can't be resold.... so you're just paying him/her/it for the
time to "collect" the cards. My Internet Explorer just
crashed, so that's a little reminder as to why I was switching
computers in the first place.
May 4, 2004 (retroactive);
Home again, home again! I found the time to watch some RahXephon (with Alexis near me on the floor)
while Lee was asleep. For dinner, I made spaghetti, and got some
spaghetti sauce we had frozen a couple of weeks ago out of the
freezer.
May 3, 2004 (retroactive):
A day in the hospital! FUN! I slept really hard for several
hours. Laura brought little Westley, and Lee's parents made it in
as well. Lee's friend from church Ann also dropped by. Some
moderately scary moments today, but it all worked out. I went
home late at night to pick up my phone and send an email around
to everyone.
May 2, 2004 (retroactive):
Alexis Mei is born at 9:39 am. Lee did great.
April 27, 2004:
Gaah, the faster-er I go, the behind-er-er I get.
April 24, 2004:
Yarr, the moving party. 'Twas rockin'. Foine sea dogs Tim,
Steph, Jaime, Larry, Jacob, Julie, and Dylan sailed with Lee and
your 'umble captain.. Much movement from upstairs to downstairs
and living to dining . Also vicey-versey, me hearties, though ye
believe it not.
April 23, 2004:
Prepping for big moving-stuff-around-in-the-house party
tomorrow. Whew.
April 13, 2004:
Played 6 Takes at work again (Gamecount=83). Sigh. Went
shopping for DVDs at Gamestop, didn't find anything. Saw a few
items to find reviews on, even though I really ought to just save
my money instead.
April 12, 2004:
Played 6 Takes at work (Gamecount=82).
April 11, 2004:
Wrote an insanely-huge insane email about my Easter holiday. I
rule.
April 10, 2004:
Sold car at garage sale, along with other items. I am a happy
camper.
April 9, 2004:
Played Fluxx at work (Gamecount=81).
April 7, 2004:
I'm the employee of the month for my department, due to my
excellent work on an Exceedingly Secret Tricky Project.
March 23, 2004:
I am fed up. Why is Internet Explorer crashing, and why is it
reporting Macromedia Flash Player as the cause? Why is no, no, no
no, none, nyet, no information available at the Macromedia
website. In brighter news, I took my car to CarMax, and they
reported they'd pay me $400 for it.
I sent emails to Spain and England today. I rock.
March 14-17, 2004:
Worked almost all the time, day and night. My body finally
said "No more!" I showed up after 3 pm at work today,
like the goober I am. Fortunately, that project has gone
exceedingly well. New stuff on the horizon, too. Lee is sleeping
poorly, unsurprisingly.
March 13, 2004:
Truly awesome game party, with about two dozen people coming
to the clubhouse. I played It's Not Nice To Taunt the Turtle,
Can't Stop, The Great Migration, Alexandros, Family Business,
Wyatt Earp (x2), and Citadels (x2), for a total Gamecount of 80.
Pretty impressive. Rod and Sean came out from San Antonio, Larry
came with his brother Phil, Steph and Alan came, Marty made it,
and lots of our regular Houston Gamers friends showed up as well.
All in all, a truly rockin' day.
March 6-8, 2004:
Went to Shiner to a bed and breakfast, at the comically
copyright-infringing Old Kasper House. We ate a bunch of food, I
drank all the complimentary beverages and coffee, and we played
Transamerica, Fluxx, and Can't Stop (Gamecount=71)
March 4, 2004:
Played Wyatt Earp at work (Gamecount=68).
March 3, 2004:
Whew. Work is complicated.
March 2, 2004:
Went over to Mike's apartment. He's lived there 9 months. I
found out where he lives last week. We talked about work and the
Transformers.
March 1, 2004:
Can't Stop and Wyatt Earp in the evening with Lee (Gamecount=67.)
February 29, 2004:
Went to Kevin and Debra's. Lee and I played Wyatt Earp, Wooly
Bully, and Sugar Rush (Gamccount=65).
February 28, 2004:
Registered at Babies "R" Expensive and Wal-Mart.
February 24-27, 2004:
Winding down with Lee: Wyatt Earp (x3), Fluxx, Can't Stop (Gamecount=62).
Also took Wyatt Earp to work, and introduced Tom to it. He
enjoyed it quite a bit, and seemed disappointed the day I didn't
bring it (Gamecount=63).
February 23, 2004:
An early morning catch-up session is good for the soul, right?
I've been slack about posting, what with being a busy guy and all.
One of the books I bought ("The Tipping Point") is
going to influence my life significantly. I think I've found
another piece of the puzzle: what am I doing with my life?
February 22, 2004:
I had an exciting day at work. With my supervisor out, I'm
taking a lot of the questions he usually takes. It's
exhilarating, but I see how it's hard to get projects done in his
position. I also started reading some of my Half-Price treasures.
Lee and I played a game of Can't Stop (Gamecount=57)
February 21:
I hauled a bunch of garbage books, tapes, CDs, and magazines
to Half-Price Books (I also used up my gift certificate that
Rachel gave me for Xmas). I know I should have hauled it all to
an indie book store, but none of those pay cash. I got $26. We
paid the March mortgage early, and I slapped $40 down to pay
extra on it. I am a high roller. We finished out the day by
playing Can't Stop and Wyatt Earp (Gamecount=56)
February 20:
Did I say life was sweet? That was before I found a copy of
Can't Stop, which Lee and I played a few times this afternoon (Gamecount=54).
Thrift stores rock. We also bought a crib.
February 16-19:
Gold Digger (x1), Wyatt Earp (x3) (Gamecount=53). Life is
sweet.
February 15, 2004:
Lee and I were treated to a fabulously-fattening meal at
Brennan's with Jacob and Julie.
February 14, 2004:
Wyatt Earp w/Lee (Gamecount=49).
February 13, 2004:
Wyatt Earp w/Lee (Gamecount=48).
February 8, 2004:
OwlCon day three-little table: Starbase Jeff, Light Speed,
Kill Dr. Lucky, and Unexploded Cow (Gamecount=47).
February 7, 2004:
OwlCon day two-big table: like the man sez: Cow/Brain/Cheese,
also Light Speed (Gamecount=36). Ran a second slot for a no-show
GM, with Starbase Jeff, Light Speed, Unexploded Cow, and Girl
Genius (Gamecount=40). Went to Chris Belfi's birthday party,
where I played Fluxx, demo'ed Unexploded Cow, and learned
Guillotine (Gamecount=43). I had a great time and met a few new
cool people.
February 6, 2004:
OwlCon day one-big table. Unexploded Cow, Give Me the Brain
Special Edition, The Big Cheese, then Falling! (Gamecount=32).
February 5, 2004:
Wyatt Earp w/Lee (Gamecount=28)
February 4, 2004:
Wyatt Earp w/ Lee (Gamecount=27)
February 2, 2004:
Three people in my department got canned. I wasn't one of them.
February 1, 2004:
Got up at 5 am to go to work at 6 am, drive to College Station
and do work there, drive back, and go back to work to send some
emails, leaving around 7 pm or so. Yay! I am a team player on the
best team ever! Why is it the best? Because I am on it!
January 31, 2004:
Wahoo! Kevin and Debra came over. We had pot roast with
potatoes, and then played four of Kevin's prototypes (Gamecount=26).
January 27, 2004:
Up painfully early to work from 6-6. Got closer to being done
with some things, also took phone calls from work after I left.
January 25, 2004:
Returned the clubhouse keys without incident, then slept away
most of the day. Still tired.
January 24, 2004:
Gaming session at the clubhouse! I played Fluxx, 6 Nimmt, Web
of Power, Princes of Florence, Bohnanza, Jump, and Puerto Rico (x2),
and stayed up way too late (Gamecount=22).
January 22, 2004:
All-night work session, punctuated by Aquarius and
Transamerica (Gamecount=14).
January 20, 2004:
Fluxx at lunch with Tom (Gamecount=12).
January 19, 2004:
Fluxx at lunch with Tom and Lee (Gamecount=11).
January 18, 2004:
Whew. Lots of napping to compensate for Friday and Saturday.
January 17, 2004:
Houston Gamers meeting! I played Big Top, Traders of Genoa,
and Agora (Gamecount=10). Also talked up the game party next
Friday.
January 16, 2004:
Full day at work on Friday, followed by a full night of
staying up and loading data for a client in Mexico. I had to have
another person from my department ALSO stay up all night, so she
could call and talk to the client.
January 15, 2004:
Did I say out of the way? I meant, "Wow, I am getting all
kinds of new responsibilities!" I am cool. This is totally a
better day than George
Bush had.
January 12, 2004:
Got my performance review out of the way at work.
January 10, 2004:
Texas Hold'em Poker Night at Kevin and Debra's place. It
finished up pretty early, and I also got in a game of Spades and
a game of Coloretto (Gamecount=7).
January 9, 2004:
Got Lee a copy of Fluxx, which we played at lunch with Tom
Nunamaker (Gamecount=4).
January 6, 2004:
Prototype night at Kevin and Debra's. I played "Hollywood
Diamond Club" for the second time (Gamecount=3).
January 4, 2004:
Houston Gamers' first meeting of the year. Lee and I played
Tichu and Xactica (Gamecount=2).
January 2, 2004:
Finished up a few projects, primed others. A frustrating day,
overall. I tallied up my 2003 Gamecount into a 5 & 10 list,
along with some thoughts about my year in gaming.
January 1, 2004:
Slept a lot, flipped around in the Lord of the Rings (gift
from last Christmas, and it just keeps on giving! - thanks, Mom
and Dad!). Took some phone calls from work, in spite of the
holiday.
December 31, 2003:
Was coughing and sneezing all day, still managed to make it to
midnight.
December 27, 2003:
Up at 4 am to get Amy, Jack, and sleeping Hannah to the
airport. Trip went really smoothly.
December 26, 2003:
Apples to Apples, Twitch, Loopin' Louie, and 6 Takes (Gamecount=300).
December 25, 2003:
Xmas presents over at the clubhouse. I got a lot of gift
certificates this year. Also played Family Business, Puerto Rico,
Loopin' Louie, and Apples to Apples (Gamecount=297).
December 24, 2003:
Over to the MFAH to see the Heroic Century exhibit! Lee stayed
home to recharge. Salvador Dali's "The Persistence of Memory"
is tiny. It's smaller than a breadbox.
December 23, 2003:
Played Gold Digger with Mom and Beth (Gamecount=290). Also
played chess at the Isenhowers (x2) (Gamecount=292.) I'll count
that as two games. I actually played another three where my
opponents were allowed to make multiple moves for every one of
mine, including a "finishing move" attack that could
destroy multiple pieces at once.I
December 22, 2003:
Transamerica and Apples to Apples at the Watson homestead (Gamecount=288).
December 21, 2003:
Played 3 games of Aquarius with Mom, Dad, Lee, and Rachel (Gamecount=286).
December 20, 2003:
Company Christmas party! New location, slightly more sedate
than before. A great time anyway. My parents and youngest sister
Rachel get into town tomorrow.
December 12, 2003:
Played Puerto Rico and Square Mile with Larry (Gamecount=285).
December 10, 2003:
Wrapped up my week at work, to take a couple of well-deserved
days off.
December 6, 2003:
Played El Grande, Bang!, and Medici at the Houston Gamers (Gamecount=283).
Bang! was a little odd. It simulates a gunfight between three
secret teams of players. Medici is a game I've played twice now.
You bid and bid and bid and bid and bid on various goods. Hope
you like bidding. I played pretty well and came in second of five.
November 29, 2003:
There is nothing like balancing your checkbook to remind you Eighty
Dollars?! On the 18th? What the hell is that? We
balanced to the penny, after a bit of thought. Paid a smidge
extra toward the mortgage out of my bonus check from October.
November 28, 2003:
Thanksgiving at Lynn and Craig's. Also good eats.
November 27, 2003:
Thanksgiving at Jacob and Julie's. Much good eats, also
Tofurkey, which I did not sample.
November 26, 2003:
Okay, I had a couple of rough months. I played some games (roughly,
Spades [x2], Settlers of Catan, Transamerica, Aquarius, Medici) (Gamecount=280),
I did a lot of work, I turned 29, and I had a small relapse of
not-giving-a-shit-about-anything. I'm better now.
September 14, 2003:
Drove back home. Lee, Larry, and I played Puerto Rico and
Starbase Jeff (Gamecount=274). Boy howdy, I likes me that
Starbase Jeff. We are planning to have a garage sale soon, which
should result in a welcome relief from having approximately two
thousand individual items of clutter.
September 13, 2003:
Drove to San Antonio and hung out with Rod, Sean, and Marina.
Rod, Sean, and I played El Grande, Girl Genius, Citadels (x2),
and also muddled through the rules to Timeline and Cube Farm (Gamecount=272).
A pleasant interlude, though Rod wasn't feeling well and left
early.
September 12, 2003:
Our annual company meeting, featuring about an hour and a half
of awards and state-of-the-company notes. Had to stay up until 5:30
am loading data after a full day's work.
September 8, 2003:
Bohnanza with Lee and Larry (Gamecount=268). A pleasant little
interlude.
September 6, 2003:
Stayed up way too late, slept in, then went to a Houston
Gamers' meeting. Lee and I played Wyatt Earp, then spent too long
playing Settlers of the Stone Age (Gamecount=264). We took one of
the gamers, Steve, with us out to Collina's, then I took Steve
back for more gaming. I sat in on Holiday AG, Are You A
Werewolf?, and The Bucket King (Gamecount=267).
September 5, 2003:
Fische Fluppen Frikadellen (Gamecount=262) with Lee.
September 2, 2003:
Lee, Larry, and I played Fische Fluppen Frikadellen (Gamecount=261).
It's fast, almost over too quickly. There are several set-ups
with more randomizing inside the set-ups, so some games are
faster than others, but it clocks in between 45 minutes and an
hour.
September 1, 2003:
Lee and I stayed home and played Fische Fluppen Frikadellen
four times (Gamecount=260). We also made tacos.
August 31, 2003:
Went to Jacob and Julie's to hang out. Jacob and I got to
change a tire, which was amusing. Also played Taj Mahal (Gamecount=256),
about which I am still ambivalent.
August 30, 2003:
Party at the clubhouse, with tons of the Houston Gamers. Kevin
Nunn brought Fische Fluppen Frikadellen, a German game about
trading for various goofy commodities (fish, whiskey, cigarettes,
fennel, and hamburgers). We were playing it slightly wrong (there's
a price chart that moves up and down; we weren't lowering it
during one phase when we should have been), but I played it and
loved it anyway (x3), along with Cafe International, Chrononauts,
Formel Fun, El Grande, Money, and Apples to Apples (Gamecount=255).
Kevin loaned FFF to me for the week. We had tons of gamers
attend, with four tables going for about six hours, and no
disasters, real or imagined.
August 24, 2003:
Lee, Larry, and I sat down to learn Amun-Re, a Reiner Knizia
game about building pyramids in Egypt (Gamecount=246). Where else
would you build them? [Jacob emailed me, reminding me about those
busy Incans.]
August 23, 2003:
Transamerica at Lee's parents' place (Gamecount=245). Yeah, we
went to LaGrange again, then we came back. Lee, Larry, and I got
in two games of Puerto Rico (Gamecount=247).
August 22, 2003:
Played Aquarius with Lee (Gamecount=244).
August 21, 2003:
Made it to LaGrange and back. Rachel is doing well.
August 20, 2003:
Little sis Rachel is in Austin this week, so I am driving out
to LaGrange after work tomorrow to meet her.
August 19, 2003:
Lee, Larry, and I played Puerto Rico (Gamecount=243).
August 18, 2003:
With Lee over at Lynn's, I had no choice but to go visit Wolf
and Ashlea. We talked about this and that. Wolf's not drinking
wine these days, so Ash and I had to enjoy the Lindeman's shiraz
I had brought, all by ourselves.
August 17, 2003:
Lee went over to help out Lynn and Abby. I went and hung out
at Jacob and Julie's place, which was cool. Larry and I stayed up
way too late, playing a 2-boards-apiece game of Puerto Rico (Gamecount=242).
August 16, 2003:
Went to the Isenhowers and played 2 games of chess with the
boys (Gamecount=237). Went to the Houston Gamers' meeting, and
played For Sale, Schotten-Totten, Aladdin's Dragons, and Acquire
(Gamecount=241). All new games for me. Schotten-Totten was
decent, For Sale was okay, Aladdin's Dragons was the most fun,
and Acquire, in spite of being American designer Sid Sackson's
masterpiece, I found sort of dry. I can see how it would improve
with more plays, though.
August 13, 2003:
Learned I failed the test. Came home, played 2-boards-each
Puerto Rico with Larry (Gamecount=235). Went back to work at 11
pm, discovered that someone else dropped the ball so I had to
page somebody to fix the earlier mistake on someone else's part.
It only kept me at work about 45 minutes more than necessary, NOT
BAD AT ALL considering the circumstances.
August 11, 2003:
Played Puerto Rico with Larry and Lee (Gamecount=234).
August 10, 2003:
I woke up after a few hours of sleep. Tomorrow my supervisor's
not in the office, and I have about ten thousand things I need to
do. Tuesday, I'll retake a certification test. Passing is 90%.
Last time I got an 88, so we'll see. Passing the test gets me a
microscopic raise, so it'd be nice to make that happen. Lee and I
are switching internet service providers. It'll save us about 25
bucks the first 3 months, with an ongoing savings of $8 per month
or so.
August 9, 2003:
After a full day of doing stuff, i.e., going to the bank, the
other bank, picking up prescriptions, and so forth, I had to stay
up from 1 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. loading data at a client site.
August 7-8, 2003:
Was at work a really, really long time both days. Loaded parts
data at a client site on Friday.
August 6, 2003:
Lee and I played a Puerto Rico variant where the 2 players
have 2 boards each (Gamecount=233). It was interesting, and felt
more "Puerto Rico-like" than the other 2-player variant.
August 2, 2003:
Went to the Houston Gamers meeting, where I played
Transamerica, Lost Cities, Wyatt Earp, Showmanager, Formula Motor
Racing, and Oh, Hell (Gamecount=232). Of them, I liked Wyatt Earp
the best, and will probably get a copy. I received some surprise
from the Houston Gamers for staying in the dark so long on Wyatt
Earp, to which I can only reply, eeh, I've been playing Puerto
Rico.
August 1, 2003:
Went and bought a couple of suits, along with two extra pairs
of pants, on the Texas tax-free weekend. Saw a guy spent $70 in
alterations on a single suit.
July 30, 2003:
Went to Kevin Nunn's for gaming, and got to play Nicht Die
Bohn, another German bean game that's not Bohnanza (226). Also
saw the retail version of his game Nobody But Us Chickens. Now
that he's a game designer, he can write off trips to Gen Con! Uh,
just because it's tax-deductible, doesn't make it right. Yeah,
that's right, I said pay off your mortgage, it's a bad deal. T
July 28, 2003:
Was an absolute zombie at work, went in late, left early. I
think I'm still sick. I have a bunch of projects that are all
dove-tailed together, going through mid-October. I currently am
doing a project for the European branch while simultaneously
converting test data for some store in the US. I lost track. I
got another minor assignment today, no clue when I'll do that.I came home from work, and discovered that my fan is
confused, and has been running continuously for the last several
hours. I went right to bed, slept for a couple hours, then got
up, had a little dinner, and wrote this update.
July 26-27, 2003:
Had another board game event. I played Family Business,
Aquarius, Res Publica, Chrononauts, El Grande, and 6 games of
Puerto Rico (225). Turnout was light, limited to Larry, Julie,
Alan, Tim and Scott from Rice, and Tim's friend Nathan, who was
our only new guest. I completely jacked up my sleep schedule.
Finished watching Generator Gawl, a mediocre anime series.
July 24-25, 2003:
Being half-sick has cost me a lot of productivity at work. I
am performing two test conversions simultaneously. As you know,
simultaneity is not my best suit. Lee and I hauled our stuff over
to the clubhouse in preparation for gaming tomorrow. I logged
into Starknights,
and played a few rounds. It is truly horrible to play a game that
much, and still be below-average at it.
July 23, 2003:
Went to the last Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class, and got
our certificates of completion. Interesting stats. Our class paid
off more than $23,000 of debt, and saved $8,500. The class had a
great turnout for the end session. A couple of work acquaintances
mentioned they had seen my website, so that was cool. I dunno.
Yeah, I got a little website where I keep track of how many board
games I play, and it's got a few other things, too.
July 22, 2003:
Lee and I played Merchant of Venus (Gamecount=214).
July 21, 2003:
Had Monday off due to working the 4th of July. Still coming
down with something, so I spent some quality time drinking
watered-down cranberry juice, eating more Tylenol, and watching
some anime DVDs I bought a while ago, because they were cheap.
Lee and I played Aquarius again at lunch (Gamecount=213).
July 20, 2003:
Slept in. I am definitely coming down with something. I drank
a lot of fluids and had some Tylenol. Lee and I played Chez Geek
and Aquarius (Gamecount=212).
July 19, 2003:
Whew! I demo'ed Cheapass Games' Diceland: Ogre, Diceland: Deep
White Seas, Starbase Jeff, Light Speed, The Big Cheese, Captain
Park's Imaginary Polar Expedition, and Unexploded Cow (Gamecount=210).
It was absolutely fantastic. Plenty of the Stephen F. Austin
gaming crowd made it out. Even the three-hour drive back to
Houston wasn't that bad.
July 18, 2003:
After a full day's work, drove to Nacogdoches, in preparation
for a gaming demo.
July 16-17, 2003:
Worked, also got my car back. Am carrying the department
pager, but have only gotten one page this week.
July 15, 2003:
Did not, in fact, get my car back from the mechanic. I had
dropped it off Monday morning, and they replaced the master
cylinder, but jacked it up. This is the 2nd time such a repair
has been attempted and botched by this shop. The first time a
year and a half ago, they tried to replace it with a refurb, but
gave up and put the old master cylinder back on, where it still
leaked a little bit. Remembering my experience the first time, I
stayed off the freeway and test drove it. Sho' nuff, any time I
took my foot off the gas, the car started slowing down. This
wasn't as bad as the first time, when the brakes actually locked
up completely. I drove my car back to the shop, and a nice guy
who didn't speak any English gave a ride home. Lee went to Lynn
and Craig's to hang out with Lynn.
July 13, 2003:
Spent several hours doing work stuff using remote access at a
California client, then I went to Jacob and Julie's. We ate
barbecue pizza, and played Puerto Rico, Carcassonne, and Taj
Mahal (Gamecount=201). Puerto Rico's my current favorite, and Taj
Mahal is Jacob's, I believe. Neither of us have really 'seen the
light' on the other's favorite. Eeh, we still played 'em both. I
returned home, where Lee and I made egg rolls, watched random
anime, and played Aquarius and Merchant of Venus (Gamecount=203).
July 12, 2003:
Took a long survey call related to an episode of Enterprise I
was sent. Good to know they're focus-grouping the hell out of it.
Is Star Trek still relevant in this day and age? Specifically,
Bush's day. The axe age, the wolf age, eternal winter when
brother is set against brother.... No, wait, that's Ragnarok,
twilight of the gods. I get them mixed up. I have a list of
things to do. Guess I'll do 'em. Lee and I played Merchant of
Venus (Gamecount=198).
July 9-11, 2003:
Doing a conversion for a Lexus client kept me really busy.
Friday night, Lee and I got a call from Lynn, who said, "Come
see the baby!" We went to the hospital and saw brand new
baby Abigail.
July 8, 2003:
Took the certification test... preliminary result was an 88,
two points shy of passing. Didn't quite finish the conversion job
I had, due to a variety of factors. Listened to a couple of
Sneaker Pimps remixes, didn't do a whole lot. The entire day was
hellishly stressful.
July 7, 2003:
Played Spammers! and Aquarius with Larry and Lee (Gamecount=197).
Larry got axed, due to consulting company's losing a major
account.
July 6, 2003:
Another day, another session of Aquarius (Gamecount=195).
July 5, 2003:
Picked up Aquarius, Spammers, Res Publica, and Digging, on the
cheap, from one of the Houston Gamers. Lee and I played Aquarius,
which rocks, and Spammers, which is mildly amusing (Gamecount=194).
July 4, 2003:
Celebrated my country's independence by going to work, where I
spent a quiet day studying for a certification test on Tuesday.
If I pass it, I will get a tiny raise, be closer to getting a big
raise, and will also get congratulatory emails.
July 1-3, 2003:
Got in one more game of Puerto Rico (Gamecount=192).
June 30, 2003:
Left work early to meet with the air-conditioner fixit guy. He
gave us good news-ants had packed dirt into the bottom, so it
wasn't drawing efficiently, which is what tripped the breaker to
the compressor, but not to the fan. Can't beat that. Flipped the
breaker on and sat in a cool house. Larry and I played the 2-player
Puerto Rico variant (Gamecount=191).
June 29, 2003:
Two games of Puerto Rico this evening with Lee and Larry (Gamecount=190).
June 28, 2003:
Ended up at Steph and Alan's up... way way up... in Humble, at
a going-away party for Greg. Played Twitch, Puerto Rico, and a
trivia game of my own design (Gamecount=188). A good time was had
by all, but wow, did we stay up late. I also got to start a fire,
which was nice.
June 27, 2003:
Today was the annual department inspection by the company
president(e). No, not BOB, but close. I passed with flying colors.
I also closed out a big project, advanced a second, had a third
postponed indefinitely. I went to Midnight Comics and played
Nuclear War with three of the regulars (Gamecount=185), using the
store copy. They also have a store copy of Globopolis and Bohn
Hansa, the boardgame based on the Bohnanza card game.
June 26, 2003:
I am now the officially-designated expert on another software
product at work. I got picked because it's a great, powerful
product with the potential to hose clients big-time if they're
not careful. I've shown a track record of good judgement and not
setting clients' data on fire, so I was the natural choice.
Stayed up all night reading "Carter Beats the Devil"
and "Bag of Bones". See Books
page for more.
June 25, 2003:
I drove Lee home from work, and she slept while I went to the
Dave Ramsey class. This week: mortgages. I'm strongly thinking
about facilitating one of the classes. Taking it's been a blast.
June 24, 2003:
Worked like a dog, all day. I am finishing out some old
projects, i.e. calling clients and giving them a hasslin' about
incomplete paperwork, as well as training someone on a data
conversion. I was a little groggy around 4 pm, but got my second
wind, and made some data tapes of Lexus "stuff" for
testing. I took a shower and went to bed for a nap, then got up
to update my web page and complete a survey for my 10-year class
reunion, which I have decided pass up. If Lee and I were going to
fly anywhere right now, we'd fly to Florida and hang out with
Amy, Jack, and Hannah Banana.
June 23, 2003:
Whew, getting more projects at work. Stayed up late reading
John Irving's The Cider House Rules.
June 22, 2003:
Ugh, so much cleanup.
June 21, 2003:
'Nother game party, this time at the clubhouse. Got quite a
few of the usual suspects, along with some new recruits. I played
Puerto Rico (4x), Apples to Apples, Fluxx, Bohnanza, Give Me the
Brain, a 5-player Ursuppe, and Unexploded Cow (Gamecount=184). I
know El Grande, Cathedral, and Transamerica hit the table as well.
June 18-20, 2003:
Worked, no big deal. "The world is too much with us, late
and soon/Getting and spending we lay waste our powers..."
June 17, 2003:
Got more caught up at work, then went over to hang out at
Jacob and Julie's place. We spent a relaxing evening catching up
on this and that.
June 15, 2003:
Lee and I played Girl Genius: The Works in La Grange, and we
eventually ended up in Bastrop, where I learned the basics of the
Yu-Gi-Oh card game, played Skip-Bo, Transamerica, and 3-player
Girl Genius (Gamecount=174).
June 14, 2003:
Went to La Grange, played Transamerica and a Gin Rummy variant
called Shanghai... without most of the Gin, or the Rum (Gamecount=168).
Not enough re-melding to satisfy my jaded palate.
June 13, 2003:
Didn't feel up to going to work, so I didn't go.
June 12, 2003:
Came home for lunch, updated my web page. Another board game
party coming on June 21. Getting a lot of new people interested,
so it should be a wild mix of new attendees.
June 11, 2003:
Whew, I'm beat.
June 10, 2003:
My supervisor will be on vacation for the rest of the week, so
he thoughtfully gave me all his unfinished projects to work on.
That's actually good; he had far more interesting things to do
than I did. Lee and I taught Larry how to play El Grande, which
was awesome (Gamecount=166).
June 9, 2003:
Hard to hit the road for work after a 3-day break, but I
managed it.
June 8, 2003:
Feh, kept thinking I would get moving, then I didn't. Have
some trades going on games, also have a couple games headed my
way, courtesy of Greg Alecnevius of the Games Journal. Stephanie
and Alan came over, then Greg showed up, Jacob and Julie dropped
by with Dylan, Larry came home with eggroll components, and Mike
eventually graced us with his presence. I got stomped at Tikal,
we played one close game of El Grande, and finished off with
Bohnanaza, using all the rules this time (Gamecount=165).
June 7, 2003:
This day was like a thousand years long. I took Logan to the
playground and got a sunburn on the back of my neck. It's bright
red, but doesn't hurt at all. The baby shower for Lynn went well.
The gigantic neighborhood clubhouse is close to our house, and we
only had to put up a deposit, not actually pay money, to rent it.
The sink backed up and that was bad, Gir. I didn't actually barf,
but I did my best. I ended up hauling a bunch of junk out of
there. If I'm really lucky, I also get to take apart the garbage
bags in search of Lee's lost watch. I finished the day by
dropping by the Houston Gamers and playing some new game of Kevin
Nunn's, and Coloretto, a set-collection game about capturing
chameleons (Gamecount=162). I also lost all control, and bought a
copy of El Grande.
June 6, 2003:
A day off. Spent a leisurely day listening to music (Soul
Coughing, Mono Puff, KMFDM), and roaming around. Bought four used
anime DVDs, way cheap, then discovered when I got home that I had
STILL been overcharged. Sigh. I'm going to have to go across town
to beat $4 out of someone. Watched the Animatrix with little
Logan, who didn't get it. He liked the swordfighting scene, but
was bored by the Shinichiro Watanabe episode. Yo, I dug it. I
also traded my copy of Knightmare Chess (not played in over 3
years) for a copy of Caesar and Cleopatra.
June 2-5, 2003:
A short week at work. I had volunteered for a small project a
couple weeks ago, and gave it back today. I correctly prioritized
it as not important enough for me to do, but someone needs to do
it. I also got a reminder that all problems I discover are
ultimately problems I must solve, lest they destroy me later. In
other words, even though I rang the alarm a month ago, since I
reported a problem to people less diligent than me, it didn't get
fixed.
June 1, 2003:
After spending the entire night dialed up to the client site,
I got about an hour and a half of sleep, then Lee and I went
downtown to Brennan's, a New Orleans-themed Creole restaurant. It
was massively expensive and massively good. We then went home,
rented Miss Congeniality, took a nap, watched Miss Congeniality,
and then I cleaned my room.
May 31, 2003:
Lee and I celebrated our 6th anniversary by having me be
trapped in the house, working remotely on a client's machine. Lee
made a beef-and-brown-rice stew that was out of this world. Larry
served us a twin beating at Puerto Rico and Cities and Knights of
Catan (Gamecount=160).
May 28-30, 2003:
Worked for ten thousand years, barely shipped the data I
wanted to ship.
May 27, 2003:
In a foul mood as I go to work. Don't look at me the wrong
way, or you stand a better than average chance of being killed.
May 26, 2003:
Was sick a lot of today, didn't get in enough work.
May 25, 2003:
Another of my personal projects is being rolled around in my
head, to the point where I think I'll be ready to take it public
soon. Off to demo, then, and from there, to Jacob and Julie's
housewarming.
May 24, 2003:
Demo'ed Unexploded Cow, Give Me the Brain, Lord of the Fries,
and Light Speed (Gamecount=158). Tried to get rid of some out-of-print
games, but ultimately ended up keeping them. Also went to Half-Price
Books and got a few winners off the clearance shelves. Half-Price
is having a 20%-off sale this weekend.
May 23, 2003:
Got declared cured by my shrink. Yep, I beat clinical
depression, America's least-recognized terminal illness. Today,
Lee and I set the wheels in motion to refinance the mortgage.
From 6.5% to 4.375%, at a cost of something like $3K, depending
on a few factors. Demo'ed Unexploded Cow and Give Me the Brain (Gamecount=154).
May 22, 2003:
Did I do things at work? I don't remember. Still reelin' wit'
da feelin'. Got worst beating ever in racquetball tournament.
May 21, 2003:
Was a zombie at work, unsurprisingly. Dave Ramsey Financial
Peace University lesson tonight was "Dumping Debt".
From here on out, it's nothing but the mortgate.
May 20, 2003:
Full day at work, then up all night loading
client data. Today the autopayment went through. My student loans are paid. Life is sweet.
May 19, 2003:
Whew, put in a 10-hour day at work, both coming
in early AND leaving late. Went straight to bed when I got home,
then got up again.
May 18, 2003:
Lee was feeling sick, and I was tired, so we
slept in until about 10 am. My cousins Beth and Sara came over (Sara
is visiting from her home in Missouri), and we shot the breeze
about this and that. I showed them my garage sale bargains and
rambled about this and that. After they left, Alan and Stephanie
came over, and we played El Grande and Merchant of Venus (Gamecount=152).
Lee won El Grande big time, and I won Merchant of Venus big time.
May 17, 2003:
I went to three garage sales, and scored a lot
of awesome stuff for about $20 total: four boardgames, about a
dozen novels, a bunch of childrens' books in awesome condition,
an ancient laptop, and a child's bicycle. I ran back for the
games party at our place. So many people came over that we ran
out of chairs. I got to play Unexploded Cow, Twitch, Puerto Rico,
Cathedral, and Ursuppe (Gamecount=150). I know Carcassonne and
Fluxx also got played "behind my back."
May 13, 2003:
Woohoo! Wolf and Ashlea made it over, and
joined Larry, Lee, and I for a game of Puerto Rico (Gamecount=145).
Lee once again won by a tiebreaker, this time snatching victory
away from me. In other news, the hole in my face from the mole-removal
is healing nicely.
May 12, 2003:
Lee, Larry, and I played Puerto Rico (Gamecount=144).
It was awesome. Lee won a tiebreaker with Larry by a single coin.
May 11, 2003:
I didn't do much, basically was sick all day
long. Scott came over and played Puerto Rico with Lee and I (Gamecount=143).
May 10, 2003:
Was sick all day, watched some more His &
Her Circumstances. Can't get enough of that high-school-romance
anime stuff!
May 9, 2003:
I went home for lunch and didn't come back. I
slept on the couch instead. Jacob, Julie, and little Dylan came
over for soups. We rounded out the evening by teaching Jacob and
Julie how to play Cathedral (Gamecount=142)
May 6, 2003:
Updated Ye Olde Web Page. I am juggling several
assignments at work, and it looks like I may end up working on
Memorial Day, in exchange for some other day off. I'm making a
couple of deals on the internet to sell a few out-of-print games.
May 5, 2003:
I went to see a cute dermatologist who removed
a mole on my cheek. It wasn't growing or anything, I was just
sick of nicking it when I shaved.
May 3-4, 2003:
Whew. Chimaeracon weekend was strange.
Saturday, I drove to San Antonio, and played Light Speed,
Unexploded Cow, Starbase Jeff, and Settlers of the Stone Age (Gamecount=138).
I crashed over at Sean and Marina's place, and then slept late,
went in and played more Light Speed (Gamecount=139). After that,
I went back to Sean and Marina's, where John, Rod, Sean, and I
played Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, then Puerto Rico (Gamecount=141).
The drive back took forever.
April 30, 2003:
I updated this page, and wow, are my arms tired.
It's been a long day, and I'm going to go to bed early, in hopes
of being rested up for Chimaeracon.
April 29, 2003:
Taught an internal class that was well-received.
I served cookies to all attendees, which helped.. Went to Midnight Comics after work, hung out a little while.
April 28, 2003:
Good projects at work make me happy!
April 27, 2003:
Got a great haircut, put gas in my car.
April 26, 2003:
Game party at our place! Had lots of people
over, some old friends and some new ones. I played Unexploded
Cow, Twitch, Light Speed, Transamerica, Cathedral, Entdecker,
Starbase Jeff, Puerto Rico, the Settlers cardgame, and we
finished with Greg's new copy of Illuminati (Gamecount=134). I
know that other people also managed to play Captain Park's
Imaginary Polar Adventure, and The Big Cheese.
April 24, 2003:
Played Tikal with Larry (Gamecount=124).
April 23, 2003:
Lee and I went to the first night of the Dave
Ramsey Financial Peace University, then we went absolutely
berserk buying anime for fire-sale prices at Gamestop. I don't
make the rules, people. I just enforce them with an iron fist.
April 22, 2003:
I bought a board game called Tikal.
April 21, 2003:
Played Cathedral, won big (Gamecount=123).
April 20, 2003:
Played Transamerica and Twitch for Easter (Gamecount=122).
April 13, 2003:
More Overload A
Con. I played Tower Siege today, and
shot the breeze with Anye Sellers of Diet Evil Games (Gamecount=120).
April 12, 2003
Overload
A Con was great. I played Give Me the
Brain, Light Speed, Star Munchkin, Falling!, Starbase Jeff,
Unexploded Cow, and The Big Cheese (GameCount=119).
April 6, 2003:
Played Transamerica and Cathedral with Larry, Amie, Larry's
bro Phil, and Kaitlin (Caitlyn?) (Gamecount=112). I am working on
a secret plan, so secret I can merely hint at the details. It's a
win-win situation, empowering my fellow employees and stretching
the limits of my influence in the organization; if it works, I'm
not just a visionary, I'm a bad-ass.
April 5, 2003:
Went to a Dave Ramsey
financial seminar. He's a great speaker, no doubt. I feel like
Lee and I have already gotten enough of the materials to know
what to do, and know how to do it, and the idea of paying another
$100 or so for the full program is quite palatable. We came home
and played Puerto Rico and Transamerica with Larry (Gamecount=110).
Transamerica is a hoot, well within the grasp of "normal"
people.
April 2-4, 2003:
Had a busy, busy week. Got in Transamerica with Lee twice, and
Cathedral session with Lee once (Gamecount=108).
April 1, 2003:
Great day at work, though tiring. I went and did a Cheapass
Games demo at Midnight Comics; had a blast showing off Give Me
the Brain and Starbase Jeff (Gamecount=105). I also found a copy
of Cathedral in a case of out-of-print games at the back of the
store. After playing Greg's copy so much, seeing a chance to get
my own was a no-brainer.
March 31, 2003:
Doctor's appointment got me to work late, so I ended up
staying later than I would have liked, and was still behind on
hours when I left. Wouldn't mind being behind on hours if I was
at least ahead on my work. That hasn't happened in a long time.
Had a great lunch with Thierry and Philip from documentation, too.
Lee and I won a game each of Transamerica (Gamecount=103). Lee
and I printed our tax forms.
March 30, 2003:
Went back to the Lone Star Comics & Gaming Show. Did more
demo games of Give Me The Brain, Starbase Jeff, and Light Speed (Gamecount=100).
Lee came by the Mariott, and we carpooled over to Allan and
Steph's place. Greg also dropped by, and we all played El Grande
and Transamerica (Gamecount=102).
March 29, 2003:
Lone Star Comics & Gaming Show demo today. Demo'ed Light
Speed, Give Me The Brain, Kill Dr. Lucky, the Big Cheese, and
Falling! (Gamecount=97) It was a decent day for demonstrations.
Not a whole lot was selling, and it was still interesting to see
who turned out. Saw cool mid-list sorta-famous people. It's hard
to take someone seriously as Dark Jedi bounty hunter Mara Jade
when she's 7 months pregnant, with an adorable 4-year old running
around. Left around six that afternoon so I'd get some rest
before returning. Played Transamerica with Lee when I got home (Gamecount=98).
March 28, 2003:
Finished out the work week. A smidge behind, still put the
nails in one project.
March 27, 2003:
Up not-quite-as-early-but-still-early. Cathedral with Lee (Gamecount=92).
Lee's advanced Tetris skills are carrying over, I think.
March 26, 2003:
Up early again. Transamerica at home, then Cathedral (Gamecount=91).
March 25, 2003:
Up early again. Demo'ed Light Speed and Give Me The Brain,
then came home and played Cathedral (Gamecount=89).
March 24, 2003:
Adding a second alarm clock got me up today, and got me to
work early. Basketball talk is everywhere; . I am working on a
huge practice kit, a test conversion, learning a new application
set, and finishing up a three-month-long additional class, plus
the usual parade of installing cool stuff for clients. Played a
few games of Cathedral with Lee and Larry when I got home (Gamecount=86).
March 23, 2003:
Drove back to AggieCon, demo'ed The Big Cheese (x2), Falling!,
and Special Edition Give Me The Brain (Gamecount=84). I took a
walk through the dealers' room, which had in the neighborhood of
50 different merchants. If you wanted a chainmail Texas flag, an
Atari 2600, a broadsword, a hat that gives you cat/rabbit/wolf
ears, Star Wars action figures, signed TV scripts, or autographs
from Farscape actors, whew, it was there. I did not want any of
these items. I bought 3 paperbacks for a dollar apiece from the
good people of Diamond Sealion, and grabbed a copy of Twitch in
shrink. When I came back, Lee slaughtered me in a game of
Cathedral (Gamecount=85). I also picked up a copy of Transamerica
at Phoenix Games' going out of business sale.
March 22, 2003:
Drove out to AggieCon at College Station. Very clearly a
student-run con, with lots of enthusiasm and lots of sleep-deprived
students. I demo'ed Light Speed (x3) and The Big Cheese (Gamecount=80).
Not as favorable a location as I had hoped. Picked up a 2nd copy
of Apples To Apples (in shrinkwrap, no less) at a charity silent
auction to support Scotty's House, a College Station refuge for
abused and abandoned children. Saw lots of generous bidding on
some great items, including broadswords, all-Japanese manga,
china Barbies, and signed Farscape scripts. I met P.N. Elrod, who
is cooler than I would have expected for someone who has written
vampire novels. She sells a writing kit that had great practical
advice for beginning writers.
March 21, 2003:
Lee, Larry, and I played Puerto Rico (2x), and then I
blundered away a game of Cathedral to Lee (Gamecount=76).
March 18, 2003:
Good day at work, turned in an interesting survey. After work,
I went to Midnight Comics and ran some demos. Showed off Light
Speed, also Looney Labs' Chrononauts, and got to play Chez Geek (Gamecount=73).
I'm staying up too late, over and over. Good news is that I've
been useful at work the last couple of weeks, and I feel good
about it. Current projects: Fretting about my website's
readability, planning to go to a bunch of gaming conventions,
thinking about credit unions, and ... being really sleepy,
evidently.
March 17, 2003:
Mediocre day at work. Came home and found another Cheapass
Games pack, this one for the Lone Star Comics and Gaming Show.
March 16, 2003:
Played Greg's copy of Cathedral with Lee, over 'n' over (Gamecount=70).
March 15, 2003:
Greg's much-delayed birthday party. I played the Settlers Card
Game, Puerto Rico, Give Me The Brain Special Edition, Nexus,
Agora, Apples to Apples, and Lightspeed (Gamecount=69).
March 14, 2003:
Played chess with Gary (Gamecount=62).
March 10-12, 2003:
Working my butt off, trying to catch up while my supervisor's
out on vacation. I'd like to have a lot of progress to present to
him; ideally, a hip-high stack of the skulls of my enemies. Er,
OUR enemies. Anyway, I still can't make my sound card work again,
so I consoled myself doing the next best thing: randomly deleting
stuff from my hard drive and registry, in an attempt to make my
computer 'work faster', also known as explode at the slightest
touch. I think my last diagnostic attempt was what triggered the
sound card failure in the first place. No great loss, it's the
freebie one that came attached to the motherboard. Compaq, you
make the bestest computers ever. Also stop letting the air out of
my tires when I'm not looking.
March 9, 2003:
Updated my page, as you see. Feeling better now, so will work
on accounting project until Lee gets home, then maybe spread my
Cheapass Games knowledge to the masses. I'm also going to pick
over the carcass of the almost-defunct Phoenix Games and Comics
sometime. I can't decide if I'll go today to be tempted, or just
go a couple of days before they close, and go crazy. I do funny
things once the discount hits a certain mark...
March 8, 2003:
Got my permanent crowns put in. I need to figure out how my
medical savings account works. Hannah Banana's 1-year birthday is
coming up, so we're thinking about presents. I split this into
paragraphs, just for you.
(warning, boring tax-stuff ahead) Have been
studying 529 Tax-Free Education Plans. Fidelity's got 3 that are
roughly the same. They are tax-free, but there's a catch. Each
account that is set up gets tapped for $30 a year, plus 0.3% per
$1000, unless you're set up with direct deposit, their Fidelity-specific
direct deposit, or all your beneficiary's accounts add up to more
than $25,000. Of course, then the funds you invest in have other
expenses, too. However, the minimum deposit's only $50 a month,
or $150 a quarter. That means to avoid the $30 a year, you could
just set up the deposit, then turn it off after you're at the
chosen amount. If you set up the money in a savings account or
money-market account, then it'll earn interest in there until it
gets sucked over into the 529 account for your Banana Beneficiary.
(The way-cool part, also boring) The money in
the 529 account has already been taxed, so that money earns a
return that is tax-free. The money in the 529 account isn't
savings for the purposes of Student or Parent Contributions, for
student loan calculations! Also, if the student gets
scholarships, the 529 money can be taken out by the original
donor, DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR, up to the amount of the scholarship. [This
is a huge tax-dodge for rich kids, since up to $250,000 can be
set up this way, split among all the different accounts for a
beneficiary. Rich parents can set up baby Lawrence Snootington
VI's Harvard fund now, tax free, and it's no skin off their rich-parent
butts to have a pile of money growing tax-free, then they can
suck some of the tax-free proceeds out if LS6 gets a "scholarship",
such as waiving out-of-state fees. Who's a cynic? Todd's a cynic,
well and true, tell me do.] There's a lot of potential here that
every parent should know about.
Lee and I finished the day by playing a friendly game of
Carcassonne (Gamecount=61).
March 7, 2003:
Missed work for the fourth day in a row, finally started
feeling better in the early afternoon. Woke up from a nap around
4 p.m., felt almost well. Went to the Harvey's new house, very
nice digs. Taught them how to play Light Speed (Gamecount=60).
March 5-6, 2003:
Flat on my back, sleeping off my cold. Missed work, couldn't
stay awake.
March 4, 2003:
Went to the doctor, and got potions for my cold. Lee and I
played Merchant of Venus (Gamecount=59). I beat her $3100 to $1100,
which is a grand accomplishment.
March 3, 2003:
Sick like ze dog, and went to work anyway. Glad I did, had a
lot to do.
March 2, 2003:
A little sore, didn't do a whole lot.
March 1, 2003:
Game party! I played Light Speed, Cathedral, Falling, Give Me
The Brain, Merchant of Venus, Apples to Apples, Gold Digger,
Entdecker, Chrononauts, and Family Business (Gamecount=58). That
was rockin', no doubt about it. Got a lot of repeat attendance,
Kelsey came for the first time, and I also had one new person
from work show up.
February 28, 2003:
Returned to Houston. Not much to report, trip went a little
better than I expected.
February 24, 2003:
5 am: I am out the door to head for Alabama. I have my cell
with me, and will be answering and returning personal calls after
9 pm. I return Friday, and I'll see everyone Saturday at the
games party. Email Lee if you've got questions.
February 23, 2003:
Kept the game train rollin'. Light Speed with Lee, Jacob, and
Julie, also Diceland with Jacob (Gamecount=48). Phoenix Comics
and Games closes its doors on March 25th, and is currently
selling all stock at 35% off. Picked up a few items from the
unhelpful slackers who worked there, also dropped by Robin and
Bill's place to hang out a bit. Jacob and Julie's new house is
cool. Haven't seen Wolf and Ashlea's new digs in person, but the
pictures look promising.
February 22, 2003:
Played Light Speed with Larry and Lee (Gamecount=46). No one
on Half.com is buying my stuff. Oh well, I guess I'll have to
watch all these great anime DVDs myself, then. Seen quoted at J-List:
"I am the Lorax. I speak for Hello Kitty for Hello Kitty has
no mouth."
February 21, 2003:
Played Steam Tunnel and Light Speed with Lee (Gamecount=45).
Light Speed is amazingly gratifying. It's a real-time space
combat game. You have a little deck full of your space fleet, and
so does your opponent. You take turns dropping them onto a flat
surface, and then you figure out which ones manage to shoot the
other ones. I think I'm going to buy one billion copies and sell
them at gaming cons, instead of having a real job. I am going to
have to do a lot more work, more efficiently, if I want all the
fame and fortune that I deserve from my real job.
February 20, 2003:
Less than an hour late to work today. I brought a ton of work
home, and I immediately crawled into bed and fell asleep. When I
woke up, I felt refreshed, and thought it was morning. I read the
rules for Light Speed and Steam Tunnel, two new Cheapass Games.
They both are easy to learn, and I can't wait to play them. It's
a shame it's two in the morning and all my friends are asleep. I
hope all my friends are asleep, anyway. My Roadrunner connection
just went down; par for the course. Time to do some accounting
projects! (12 minutes later): Roadrunner's back up.
February 19, 2003:
Made it to work only eight minutes late. Work involved a six-hour
class, and I was horribly unorganized after I left the class, up
to and through the moment I headed out the door. Worst of all, I
have the ending part of The Who's "Teenage Wasteland"
running through my head. Played a quick game of Apples to Apples
with Larry and Amie (Gamecount=43). I have a stack of paperwork
of all kinds to complete before Friday, and to compound my
troubles, I'm staying up really, really, really late. Don't miss
my quick updates to my Anime section.
February 18, 2003:
Still over an hour late to work. Went to Lynn and Craig's,
installed a router, and configured their wireless network. Whole
thing, including removal of a virus on one computer, took about
five hours; I could do the whole now in about 45 minutes flat, if
necessary.
February 17, 2003:
Got to work extremely late, very poor job of getting my act
together in general.
February 16, 2003:
Jaw still sore from dental work. Have some math to do on
student loans, might be refinancing the mortgage, and should
start prepping the tax documents, too.
February 15, 2003:
OwlCon summaries up! Got fitted for two crowns today. Was
"only" in the dentist's chair for two hours. Insurance
will cover half, and I've got a medical savings account set up,
so I'll pay the rest with pre-tax dollars. Speaking of taxes,
it's about time to do ours. I am going to another five or six
gaming conventions this year, I think. Finished out the day with
a trip to Midnight Comics for the Houston Gamers meeting. Played
Nobody Here But Us Chickens, and Fraud Squad (Gamecount=42), then
chatted a while with John, one of the two owners, and Matt, one
of the 19-year-old cretins who hangs around all the time. John's
cool, Matt might be cool after a couple of trips through Ye Olde
Beating Machine to get him to simmer down.
February 14, 2003:
Romantic evening at home. Bought Lee a couple of DVDs, Better
Off Dead and Robin Williams Live on Broadway. She watched Better
Off Dead while I put some of my books on Half.com. I priced
everything too high. It is my way. We ended the evening by
watching the high-school romance anime "His and Her
Circumstances". It's hilarious. Full review to follow in a
few days/weeks/months.
February 13, 2003:
Ten thousand things to do at work.
February 12, 2003:
I'm up to my ears in work. I'll get the OwlCon summaries up
soon. Trust me, it was a blast.
February 9, 2003:
Even more games at OwlCon. I
taught Give Me The Brain and The Big Cheese. I helped Lee out of
a game of Girl Genius: The Works, and also played Nobody Here But
Us Chickens (Gamecount=40). I spent some time at the swap meet
and got rid of some old games in exchange for other games, which
I then sold for CASH. I actually ended OwlCon with more money
than I started, as well as getting Apples to Apples and Family
Business, two good party games still in the shrinkwrap, plus a
couple of weird rulebooks that I'll read and trade/sell off.
February 8, 2003:
More games at OwlCon. I
taught Give Me The Brain (x2), Starbase Jeff, The Big Cheese (x2),
and Captain Park's Imaginary Polar Adventure. I also ended up
playing Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan Cities and Knights, Apples
to Apples, Gold Digger, and a gigantic-scale game of Settlers of
Catan (Gamecount=37).
February 7, 2003:
Took the day off for OwlCon. I went to Sam's Club and bought $500 of pop 'n'
snax, then went to Rice and orchestrated over a dozen volunteers
for about three hours straight. It was great fun and I was
amazingly patient and an inspiring leader. Later that evening, I
ended up playing Titan (got killed super early) and the new Give
Me The Brain (Gamecount=26).
February 6, 2003:
Lee and I went over to the Casavants, so Lee could finish
helping them with the awesome database she made for OwlCon. Got a
package from Cheapass Games with the new full-color Give Me The
Brain. Looks awesome, can't wait to play it.
February 5, 2003:
Oh, I'm beat. Department meeting at 4:15 today, nothing too
exciting there. Larry whupped me at Tigris & Euphrates (Gamecount=24).
February 4, 2003:
Got a shadow promotion at work, along with lots of positive
feedback. More news to follow as I get the details hammered out.
I was feeling tired, so I skipped a racquetball appointment;
Sylvia was playing volleyball before that, so she still got her
exercise. Lee made chicken soup for dinner, and we all hit the
sack early. Larry's been making deep, hacking coughs the last
week or so. Only time will tell.
February 3, 2003:
Busy busy.
February 2, 2003:
Nothing like sleeping in on Sunday. Spent quality time with
Lee, then more OwlCon prep. Lee did over-the-phone database
support, and I dropped by to help out the rest of the crew. A
couple hours of that, and I headed home, where Lee and I balanced
the checkbook and paid the bills. OwlCon's going to be great.
I've got a lot to do this week at work, since I'll take Friday
off. The entire OwlCon organization is rightly impressed with
Lee's amazing database powers.
February 1, 2003:
Played massive 6-hour game of Twilight Imperium with Rice
mathematician Greg Clark et al, finished out the evening later
with some former company employees. I watched them play
Entdecker, then taught them Give Me the Brain (Gamecount =23).
January 31, 2003:
Getting more gold stars at work, plenty of goodwill being
accumulated there. Played Puerto Rico (Gamecount=21) with Wolf
and Ashlea, and Mike hung out with us a little bit, before
talking music with Larry. Tomorrow is Twilight Imperium day, then
Sunday is OwlCon volunteer prepping, Monday-Thursday is Super
High Intensity Work Week, I'll take vacation on Friday, and
that'll segue into OwlCon proper.
January 30, 2003:
More racquetball, almost an hour and forty-five minutes
straight. My legs hurt, a lot. Getting great feedback on
everything I do at work. I have amazing powers over the English
language, or so everyone seems to believe. I'm probably going to
get at least 3 weeks out of town in the next 3 months. Managed to
archive the 2002 info from the main page, and split it off into a
new page. I'm thinking I may want to eventually flip the order (short
wish), or put it all in a database, so you can see, for instance,
the current week, same day last week, same day last month, and
same day for every year (long wish). That'd be neat.
January 29, 2003:
Mike came over, and he rode along with me to go buy a copy of
volume 1 of His and Her Circumstances. Mike had come from work,
and left again to go get a few hours of sleep before going back
for an all-nighter. Larry, Lee and I concealed our grief by
playing Puerto Rico, which Lee won, and then we played Captain
Park's Imaginary Polar Adventure (Gamecount=20).
January 28, 2003:
Played racquetball. Body hurts. Figured out what Lee's getting
for Valentine's Day.
January 27, 2003:
Went to OwlCon planning meeting, which lasted approximately 27
dog hours. Good thing it's going to be so much fun!
January 26, 2003:
Puerto Rico (x2) (Gamecount=18), once with Rod and Sean, later
with Lee. 2-player PR is weird.
January 25, 2003:
Well, my games party is about to start. I have games, food,
drink, chairs, tables... all I need now is ten bazillion people,
and I'll be totally set. More later... [much later in the week]:
I'm a bum. Rod is dying for the game count. I played Fluxx,
Starbase Jeff, Puerto Rico (x2), Carcassonne, Falling!, and
Tigris & Euprates (x2) (Gamecount=16). Other people managed
to play Give Me the Brain!, Lord of the Fries, Samurai, and
Entdecker without me, somehow. Best party attendance ever, if I
count right.
January 12, 2003:
Okay, everyone's got to be good for a few days, while I'm in
Vegas for the next few days. Next board games party, January 25.
OwlCon, February 7-9. Lee, Larry and I played Settlers of Catan:
Cities and Knights. It was cool, but took a little while. (Gamecount
=8) Larry gave me an old stick of RAM that he had lying around,
so now I'm up to 512 MB. My computer seems to be running a little
faster.
January 11, 2003:
We did a lot of cleaning, filing, and organizing. Rented a
Power Puff Girls DVD, watched it. Also got pizza from a place
down the street called, "Daddy-O's", which we hadn't
seen before.
January 10, 2003:
Played a game of chess at the company birthday party. (Gamecount=7)
It was cool. The accounting department served root beer floats,
which was amusing.
January 9, 2003:
Played racquetball with Sylvia, Colby, and Steve, all people
from work. I'm trying to encourage more networking for
racquetball, but it hasn't helped much so far.
January 8, 2003:
Whew, it's been an insanely busy last two weeks. I thought I
was going to be in Pennsylvania, then I didn't go. Still headed
to Vegas next week, should be a blast. I've got a lot of plans
for 2003, and it'll be interesting to see which ones survive
January.
January 2, 2003:
Played Chrononauts, Bohnanza, and Puerto Rico (Gamecount=6).
January 1, 2003:
Played Bohnanza, Settlers of Catan, and Puerto Rico (Gamecount=3).
I'm going to count up the number of games I get in this year, and
shoot for 365.
