| big plastic barrel of pretzels

Been a hectic couple of weeks. I got a new job. Still with the city, but after next week I'll no longer be with the crime lab. Moving over to records in San Pedro near the port. It's a little more money and a lot more closer to home. 15 minute commute versus 45+. The only weird part is that after a few months I'll be moving into a AM shift which is Midnight-8:30 in the morning or so. Yikes! Been years since I worked a night shift. Can't wait to see how it goes. I think it will be an adventure.

Applied for a passport this morning. Never had one but since they last 10 years, figure this will spur me to travel some. I think 8-11 (never forget) and the need for a passport to visit Mexico or Canada also played a part. I'd like to take a cheesy cruise some day. They're so damn cheap and local, so in 5-6 weeks I'll be legal to get off the boat on occasion.

Finished Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama". It was good but hasn't aged as well as some other classic sci-fi. It has a really dry narrative and felt "too safe". I never feared for any of the character's lives. The basic story is interesting and I'm glad I read it. There are a bunch of sequels that were written by a collaborator, right up into the 1990's, and the plot summaries are hilariously bad.

Still going to write a novel in November, so taking Stephen King's main piece of advice from "On Writing" and READING as much as possible.

Next on my to-read list are a bunch of Elmore Leonard's short-story westerns, random Steinbeck I've never read (I loved Grapes of Wrath in school and never really read much else by him), and "The Passage" vampire book.

I've gotten horribly out of shape again, so I've also been trying to bring hiking back into my routine. I love it and it's convenient to where I currently work, but I'm going to have to find a new exercise hobby when I start work in San Pedro. Maybe riding my bike at the beach?

| Xamnation

Well... Nothing really terribly exciting for all you Actionteam members. Just boring work news:

We just sold our building to yesterday for a cool $265 million. Of which I get a little less than the real estate brokers. They get 3%. I get 0%. Sweet. It's cool though, I do get to keep my job for another 6-12 months at a minimum. After that, I will hopefully be joining the new management group with the rest of our staff. A new company. Again. That will be 4 companies in 6 years for the same job at the same location. The good news is this company is a long term asset holder, so hopefully no more name changes. Also, I don't like my current company. It is a big, bureaucratic, company filled with Kool-Aid drinking cheerleaders. That and the left hand never seems too know what the right hand is doing.

I also joined the nefarious eLzar sponsored fantasy hockey league. Yay hockey.

Also, I hear eLzar likes green.

jr0n, I am stoked that you started reading The First Law trilogy. I really enjoyed the series. I have the second and third books if you are interested.

D>M>

or defined as a website that helps you pass that test to all your college courses,

or a site dedicated to diagnostics for aids/herpes/genital/mamographic testing.

| Hot fresh content needed for hip website

Xamn people, what's going on?

(xamn: hip new swear word? Or typo?)

Problem with iPad is reading something that hellaciously bright at night IS going to fuck up your sleep. Kindle/Nook has the eye ink thing, so no backlight, but easier on the ol' circadian rhythms.

Everything old is new again:
- Just finished reading the revised 2nd edition rules for Tannhauser! We played this game a bit back in the day and it was fun but with a few really niggling design problems that held it back (no overwatch, limited functionality of heavy weapons due to minimum range restrictions, fiddly dice mechanic). The 2nd edition fixes ALL these problems so I'm excited to get this sucker back on the table.

- I think I'm gonna sign back up for WoW, dammit. Cataclysm just sounds too good, but I want to finish up the high level content (Death Knight, and get Borst to 80) before making a new character.

- I will run an extended Earthdawn campaign at some point in my life. You heard it here first, folks.

I was into the idea of an e-reader as well, but I've cooled to it lately. I've played with a Nook at the stores and it was alright, but I'd probably go for a Kindle just because it seems like they'd have the biggest selection. Haven't seen the others. If I was rich I'd get a Ipad or something and then the kindle and nook apps. I use the kindle app for my laptop and it works well. I just download the free books though.

I had just finished reading 'Under the Dome' by Stephen King. I like his writing, I really do, but once again the ending of this mammoth book was just awful. The journey was fun - it felt like The Stand-Lite - but the last 3rd was difficult to get through.

I chose Rama for my next book because it's under 300 pages and I haven't read something that short in years. I also have a book called "The Passage" by Justin Cronin that got really good reviews. I think it's a sort of post-apoc/vampire story, but more "The Road" than "Twilight". Supposedly depressing as hell, so looking forward to it in a sick way.

"For that fine young thing, Shirley Temple."

I liked Rendezvous with Rama a lot, but that was probably like 20 years ago (yiiikes!). I'm reading a lot myself these days, too:

- Just read Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. Really good if you feel like a suspense/thriller kind of book (or are just a fan of books turned into movies by Leonardo diCaprio). Going in I thought maybe the trailer had given away too much of the plot, but it didn't after all, so yay!
- Now reading The Blade Itself, a fantasy book Enron lent me. It's a pretty good read so far (halfway into it) with some memorable characters and the guy has a sharp writing style. I believe I will read the whole series, unless it falls apart at the end, like so many Death Angels led by Sgt. Aeryk.
- Next up I've had this fantasy book called Name of the Wind sitting in my queue for quite a while. A relative gave it to me and I have seen it highly recommended on numerous fronts (the Penny Arcade guy loved it too) but the name is so bad I've had trouble committing.

Any of you guys have any Kindle/Nook/etc experience? I'm thinking it might be cool to have a nice, light device loaded with books to bring to Australia later this year. And Kindles aren't TOO bad these days, $140 for the basic model.

| docking big ships in tiny ports

Did you sneak that Space Hulk review in!? I missed it last time I posted. See man, I think our podcast would be sweet with stuff like Space Hulk reviews. :) Glad you like it. It's all sold out to high hell right now, so no rush to get it, but it still looks kind of abstract and strange, so I'm less excited than I thought I'd be. I really loved the visual component to OG Space Hulk.

-----

I started reading Arthur C Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama" because I've always wanted to and I picked up a used copy. The book is dedicated to Sri Lanka and right away that pinged my brain with a thought, "wait, didn't I hear he was a pedo?" After some research, I found that there was an article that came out before he was to be knighted that claimed he talked openly about it, but he denied ever saying that. He claimed it was aimed at embarrassing Price Charles and that he was in no way one. THAT'S GOOD! What an ugly rumor and it was just sitting there hidden in my mind, probably like a lot of people! Bummer. But now I can keep reading, not feeling so dirty.

Happy Life Day Dennish, RyRy, ME AND JON, and whoever else.

I played a few more DungeonQuests over the last couple of days - I was sick and it's actually compact/sturdy enough to be played right in bed! Someone on BGG created a nice Solo Adventure Log for DQ that's been fun to fill out. So far my shortest game was 8 turns but that game could have been even shorter with a bottomless pit being the first friggen tile. The game is really fun.

| Space Hulk: The Failing

Ha! Fooled you!

The game succeeds, I fail at playing it!

Its a weird game that plays great solo and the games play out very much like Space Hulk Proper games do 85% of the time: The Marines start strong, they have enough firepower and people to position themselves at the right places most of the time. They move through the hulk smoothly, and then something happens to slow things down. Maybe there are 5 corridors that need covering but only three marines to do so, or maybe one marine has found himself trailing behind, whatever the cause the end result is the same - DISASTER.

One marine croaks, then the rest are vulnerable. Then another, and by that time the house of cards that is the mission is about ready to fall the eff down.

So far my first two missions have ended in marine slaughter - my most recent mission in the first room I needed to clear (of 4).

All in all, I really like it, just when you think you have a handle on things it all falls apart. Good stuff.

| Botz Partz

They say it's your birthday... It's my birthday too! Well maybe not. But Harpy Bday jarks. With regards to Pump, I think Elves count years the same as us vulgar Humans, its just that he can count a hell of a lot higher. He's probably already 230 years old now. How do you think he was able to collect such a massive array of unpainted miniatures?

In other news, this is pretty much how I feel about Juicy Fruit and Utilikilts.

Rude: Nice write up for DungeonQuest and Castle Mikenloft. Mikenloft looks pretty sweet and well, you can never do wrong by throwing down a little DungeonQuest. I will admit, the combat system is a little obtuse at first, especially when drunk, but it does work fairly well once the system sinks in. Besides, would it be a proper GW throwback game if it didn't have a few lovely rules quirks?

The question of the day, as quoted from the soon to be owner's representative of my building, "Does the management office really need four employees on staff to run it?" Yikes! Can't wait to interview for my job again. This has become all too common these days.

D>M>

Anyone try out the Space Hulk card game? It's pretty sold-out so I haven't had a chance to get it yet. Looks kinda weird from some of the video reviews I've seen, but people seem to be enjoying it.

So Cal dudes, lets game this weekend a wee bit.

| Alternatively

On your birthday, I will put up a banner that says: "It is your birthday."

When I was at Mattel we spent a lot of time coming up with depressing corporate mottos, and one my friend Steve came up with was, "If today's your birthday: happy birthday."

I can totally see you plastering that on the walls at some business you run, Aeryk. Thanks a lot.

Oh happy birthday Denis. How old are you in Elven years?

| Hey Jerks

Been busy.

- Happy Birthday to all the jerks who have had one!

- Nice writups of your sessions Rudy! Loved the pictures!