WOW!!!

WHEN I go to Germany, I WILL go HERE!!!

What the Frak???!!!

While looking for bible verses to place on the wall of the High School Sunday School/Youth group my wife and I lead, I find this verse:

2 Kings 2:23 NIV

Elisha Is Jeered

23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. “Go on up, you baldhead!” they said. “Go on up, you baldhead!” 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. 25 And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.


Sounds like the moral of this story is don't mess around with the messengers of God or you get what's coming to you. I must say, to me, it smacks of a random wandering Monster encounter from the Dungeons and Dragons game. But that must be the geek in me interpreting the verse. Oh well.

Later!

So Say We All... at least those of us that feel similarly.

From the Daily Herald newspaper of Chicago, published 5/11/10 in the Letters to the Editor.

"After hearing the news that consideration was being given to National Guard troops being dispatched to the city of Chicago to quell violence, I wanted to take the opportunity to thank Mayor Daley and Governor Quinn.

Mayor, Governor, congratulations. Your pathological efforts to disarm the honest law-abiding citizens of the state of Illinois have finally paid off in a most graphic way. By making Illinois one of only two states in the United States that denies its citizens the rights granted under the Second Amendment, you have succeeded in turning the city of Chicago into a war zone. Since the beginning of 2010, there have been more Americans killed in Chicago than in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. Congratulations, great job, I hope you're proud."

Frank Ladonne

Buffalo Grove

Ain't she cute?

Here's my little girl, Astrid. I call her my little defective dog... not that she is really defective, but she just acts so silly most of the time that she must have a screw loose. She is quite intelligent and very social. She is about 55 lbs right now in this photo and is almost a full year old!

Okay... this is really geeky....

As you all know, I am a big fan of the author, Robert E. Howard and especially his Conan character. As you also know, I am a big D&D gamer. Well, now, if I wanted to, the two different things can come together. Someone has done the work for me and mashed the two together and has come up with interpretations of how Conan would be as a D&D character at different points in his life, according to the stories written by R.E. Howard. If you are at all interested, the site is HERE

And if that were not enough, he went on to make character stats for other Characters from the Conan stories. With imagination and time, a enterprising DM could come up with an entire adventure campaign devoted to the world of R.E. Howard's Conan for D&D! Not gonna happen with me.... I got to much other stuff going on...

Anyway. Enjoy if you are geeky enough!

Later!

Things that make you go, hmmmmm....

I am not a regular, or even a sometime watcher of the Daily Show or The Colbert Report, but I was made aware of this via a Facebook friend. It is a quote by Stephen Colbert while appearing on the Daily Show. "Atheism: The religion devoted to the worship of one's own smug sense of superiority."

I don't know why it struck me so resoundlingly. I don't think about Atheism. It is not something I waste brainpower on. I know a number of atheists and they are perfectly fine people and it is not something we discuss. In my understanding, I would think that atheists would prefer that. If they do not acknowledge a "supreme being" then that is what I call their "religion" and I am not about to denigrate or question their belief system. I have mine, they have theirs, and we can agree to disagree.

But something about this statement just made me smile. I think it is because recently, those clerics of atheism have been much more vocal in their fight to change the "freedom of religion" to that of "freedom FROM religion" and that I cannot stomach. After all, isn't a lack of a faith in a supreme being a religion of sorts in itself, much like the quote alludes to? And many of those that are making the rounds on the media shows, do seem to have a smug sense of superiority about them. (I will admit, there are a number of "believers" (Christian, Jewish, Muslim or otherwise) out there who are just as smug...)

Well there I go... thinking too much on this subject. Any thoughts out there on this?

Getting set for the Con Season!!!

When packing for gaming conventions, make sure you pack soap.... especially THIS SOAP!!!

Don't Touch My DICE!!!!

Many gamers are said to not bathe, brush, or follow regular hygene routines.... but not anymore!!

DICE WIPES!!!

Gamers and Gunners

This is from one of my favorite gaming websites... if you are a gunner, or a FPS gamer, or both, you really need to read this. Even if you are not, it is an excellent piece on the discussion behing the theory of video games affecting how people act in the real world.

The article is HERE

Facebook Familiarity.

Two things happened to me recently that I think are of note enough to put on the blog. They both related to friends I have on Facebook. When I say "friends" I have to admit that these are people I have never met before, but are in my friends list due to various connections with other IRL friends. (I should also state that these people are the sort I would probably be friends with without Facebook) I would guess that I have "known" these people via their's and my FB status updates for about 2 yesrs now.

So anyway... One day at work, I get a phone call on my cell (and I have never given my cell number to this person specifically) from one of my FB friends whom I have never met, never spoken to other than on FB, and probably will not likely meet anytime soon. The reason for the phone call is completely irrelevant for this blog, but what was so interesting about it was that our conversation, (with real voices) was as if it was between two people who had known and spoken to each other for years. The was none of the uncomfortable chit chat to get the conversation up to speed, and no awkwardness that comes with the unfamiliarity of speaking to a stranger. It was as if I was talking to someone I work with on a regular basis. And it was totally normal! It was not until the conversation was over that it struck me, just how "un-normal" it was. Almost a little scary. I was really floored by how familiar we were with each other, us being total strangers and all.

The second case was with a young man who attends the same school as my son, but yet they have never truly gotten to know each other, and again, I have never met him personally myself. I have had small conversations with him on Facebook, usually discussion games and gaming in general, but nothing too deep. As time and events would have it, he eventually was set to come to my house for a gaming session, and we would meet for the first time. When he arrived at the door, I greeted him, (and so did Gunnar in his own particularly LOUD way) and said. "Hi D*****, I feel I know you, but in a Facebook sort of way." He agreed, and our period of "meeting and greeting" was over and we set to gaming and had a very enjoyable time. I didn't need to ask him questions about his gaming experience or school experience or where he lived or what he like or stuff like that, cause for the most part, I already knew it.

Facebook is pretty old hat anymore and I am becoming slightly bored with it, but I must say that in many many ways, this application has really changed the social scene in my circle of "friends." I feel far more connected with my close friends and closer with my distant friends and maybe they feel the same way too. Who knows what this form social interaction will eventually lead to in the bigger picture, but it really has made a big difference in my socializing in the outside world. I kind of like it. I will however, try to keep the big surprises I might have off of Facebook because nothing spoils telling a big story to someone and they already know about it from your status updates!

later!

Old Friends, meet the new friends.

It has been a while without much to say in this blog but I think the drought is over.

Recently I have been reading some memoirs of gamers, most notably "Gamer Geeks and Fantasy Freaks" and "The Elfish Gene: Dungeons and Dragons and growing up strange." In these books, the authors recall their experiences with D&D and gaming and how it affected their lives. Both authors seem to, if not regret their gaming experiences in their younger years, they certainly don't look back on them with great fondness. They seemed to have a love/hate relationship with gaming and what it did for them, or maybe too them as an adolesent or teenager.

That is not the case for me. My gaming days have served me well. They fed my need and hunger for a fantasy world that I could partake in, not just read about. It fired my interest in western mediaeval history which in turn led me to long love affair with re-enacting. And I think it made me a better and more voracious reader, and in many ways, a bit more outgoing when I finally got into college. All together, I am fond of, and proud of my gaming days as a kid. Hell, I am still a gamer, and have brought my whole family and many friends into the gaming world because of my love of gaming.

Recently I was upstairs in the attic of the house looking for something and just for kicks I decided to look in the big blue tub that has been sitting there for years and years. I knew it contained all my old D&D stuff from years gone by, but I never really bothered to open it up because I was now involved in a whole new version of the game and the "first edition" is now obsolete in the gaming world. But I opened it upanyway and there, neatly stacked away were my old friends, the D&D books, modules,(now called pre-made adventures)characters, miniatures and gaming suppliments. It was a wave of nostalgia that washed over me. All the time spent as a kid with my buds playing the game and all the hours spent designing adventures and characters and simply living inside my head within the fantasy world. It was a great time and nice to remember all those things.

What I was most excited to find were the old modules that have recently been updated to the current version that I am playing. I can now play those old modules that gave me such joy with my new set of D&D players, of which one is my own son. I think this is great. The good old killer mod - White Plume Mountian - will soon be on the table and doing its damnedest to kill off every character in the group. It will be good to share these old favorites of mine with everyone. I hope they will enjoy them as much as I did all those years ago. (which really don't seem that long ago)

later!

D-I-V-O-R-C-E

I found this while in a discussion about Concealed Carry in Illinois.

Right Vs. Left Divorce settlement:

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists, and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950’s, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right so let’s just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up this country by landmass each taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

We don’t like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we’ll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA, and the military. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore, and Rosie O’Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them).

We’ll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart, and Wall Street. You can have your beloved homeboys, hippies, and illegal aliens. We’ll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO’s, and rednecks. We’ll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood.

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we’ll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we’ll help provide them security.

We’ll keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N., but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We’ll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks, and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Volkswagon you can find.

We’ll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the national anthem. I’m sure you’ll be happy to substitute Imagine, I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya, or We Are the World.

We’ll practice trickle down economics and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot. Since it often so offends you, we’ll keep our history, our name, and our flag.

Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I’ll bet you which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

P.S. Also, please take Barbara Streisand & Jane Fonda with you.

Don't know Jack Shit? You do now...

For some time many of us have wondered who is Jack Shit? We find ourselves at a loss when someone says, "You don't know Jack Shit!" Well, thanks to my efforts, you can now respond in an intellectual way. Jack Shit is the only sone of Awe shit who married No Shit. Inturn, Jack Shit married No shit. The couple had six children: holy shit, Giva Shit, Fulla Shit, Bull Shit, and the twins, Deep Shit and Dip Shit. Deep shit married Dumb Shit, a high school dropout. After 15 years, Jack and No Shit got divorced and she married Ted Sherlock, and became No Shit Sherlock.

Meanwhile, Dip Shit married Lotta Shit and had child with a rather nervous disposition named Chicken Shit. Fulla Shit and Giva Shit married the Happens brothers in a double wedding. Bull Shit traveled the world and returned home with an Italian bride; Pisa Shit.

So from now on, no one can tell YOU that you Don't Know Jack Shit!

Zoom Zoom

Take a look at these babies! I think they might actually have a real market if the price were dropped!

This is why you should be reading Joe Abercrombie...

Just a snippet from the Joe Abercrombie book: Best Served Cold. The entire book is just one good snappy paragraph after another and the action scenes are even better!



"How's watching your men fall off a wall going to help?" asked Shivers.

Cosca shrugged. "It will wear down the defenders, deny them rest, keep them guessing and distract them from any other efforts we might make."

"Lot of corpses for a distraction."

"Wouldn't be much of a distraction without them."

How do you get men to climb the ladders for that?"

"Sazine's old method."

"Eh?"

Monza remembered Sazine displaying the money to the new boys, all laid out in sparkling stacks. "If the wall falls, a thousand scales to the first man on the battlements, hundred each to the next ten who follow him."

"Provided they survive to collect the bounty." Cosca added. "If the task's impossible, they'll never collect, and if they do, well, you achieved the impossible for two thousand scales. It ensures a steady flow of willing bodies up the ladders, and has the added benefit of weeding the bravest men out of the company to boot."

Shivers looked even more baffled. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Bravery is the dead man's virtue," Monza muttered. "the wise commnder never trusts it."

"Verturio!" Cosca slapped one leg. " I do love an author who can make death funny! Brave men have their uses but they're damned unpredictable. Worrying to the herd. Dangerous to bystanders."

"Not to mention potential rivals for command."

"Altogether safest to cream them off." and Cosca mimed the action with a careless flick of two fingers. "The moderately cowardly make infinitely better soldiers."

Shivers shook his head in disgust. "You people got a pretty fucking way of making war."

Winter War Convention 37

This last weekend, I had the fortunate opportunity to spend time with friends and family at the gaming convention called Winter War. It has been going on for 37 years now, and it has come along way from the rough and tumble con that was held in the Foreign Languages Building on the U of I campus. Currently it is held in the Hawthorne Suites in Champaign, IL. and it is a terrifically run convention. Granted, it is not a huge convention, with only about 300 people attending, but it is one of the best. The goal of the convention organizers is to allow people to play games, and it succeeds in that exceedingly well. There is a smattering of dealers, enough to handle your desires, should you find yourself absolutely needing the game you just played. They have a incredible auction of used games that you can get just about anything at a terrific price, but what they do best, is offer a huge number of various games that you can sign up for and play all weekend long. It is a gamers game convention. Unlike the bigger ones, you will not find a library of games to play or test, but you will find those games that really hold a place in the hearts of the gamers that come every year. Unfortunately, that can make the con a bit harder to enjoy for the casual gamers, like my wife, but I think that things are changing and more and more people are bringing more "user-friendly" games to the con for people to play. (Not that she doesn't enjoy it!)
But what I really found this weekend, was that the con is not so much a time to play games or check out something that interests me, it is more of a chance to reconnect with those people I dont' see enough of, or face off against the people I only see at the con, across the field of battle called the gaming table. My kids are now part of this con. My son is familiar with many of the people at the con, and my daugther is eagerly embracing the whole gamer girl persona. (Hopefully without the bad hair, awkward social behavior, and poor clothing choices.) It is a time to socialize while competeing with other gamer friends, and make connections that, oddly, have helped me in my non-gaming world. What are games when you take the competition element out of them? They are a simply reason to get together and socialize. Some people claim that gamers are non-social creatures, but I disagree. They are very social. How else can a real gamer who is not social, ever manage to bring themself to interact with total strangers for an entire weekend? I hold, that those people that don't socialize well in groups, but yet are gamers and somehow have been held up as the model for gamers, are probably not social in general, gamer or not. But, I digress...
The weekend was great, I had a great time with my family, (although I would like it to have some of those games my wife enjoys more) and I made some new friends, reconnected with old ones, and strengthened the bond with current friends. Maybe that is why I like gaming so much. I am a very social creature and I love to play games.
Anyway, I ramble on. I have provided some photos from the con for you to enjoy.



This is the opening move (albeit blurry) of the game Circus Maximus, a chariot racing game. As you can see, it is quite crowded and the end result is abstract bloodshed!



Here I am, late at night with two of my favorite gaming partners! We were playing Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game.



The game Battlestar Galactica is one of the best games I have ever encountered. It looks complicated, and maybe at first it is, but it makes for one of the best unintentional role playing board games ever! Ask me later what that means.



Just one of the massive miniature games going on at the convention. This one represented the D-Day landings of June 1944. The game started at 9am and finished sometime after 8pm.



One of my new gaming buddies. During the Kobolds Ate My Baby game, he found the spoon of Cthulu! He was a happy man. What a silly game.



Just more of the silliness that is Kobolds Ate My baby. Chickens, Goats and Kobolds! Oh My!!

Hollywood history...

Maybe Hollyoood is not the place to learn your history, (leave that to us professional living historians) but it sure makes history alot more fun to watch.

Check out the link to Hollywood History!

Later!

If a liberal....

I was looking for something to post to blog and then my wife send me this....


If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn`t buy one.

If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn`t eat meat.

If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat
his enemy.

A liberal wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good.

If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.

If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a black man or Hispanic are conservative, they see themselves as independently successful.

Their liberal counterparts see themselves as victims in need of government protection.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.

A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.

Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.

A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced, (unless it's a foreign religion of course!)

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.

A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

If a conservative slips and falls in a store, he gets up, laughs and is embarrassed.

If a liberal slips and falls, he grabs his neck, moans like he's in labor and then sues.

If a conservative reads this, he'll forward it, so his friends can have a good laugh.

A liberal will delete it because he is "offended."

End of the year vacation!

I just had one of the best end of the year vacations! I normally take the last two weeks of the year off on vacation and spend it at home with family. During the last two weeks of the year I celebrate my wedding anniversary, two Christmas parties, New Years Eve, and my wife's birthday. We do alot of partying the last two weeks of the year. But in addition to that, this year we had alot of fun just watching movies and playing games. At best count, we watched something like 11 movies, both currently on the theaters or on DVD. Talk about couch potatos! And in addition that I got to game like 8 different times over the break. RPG, video or board gaming. It was great!

If only I could have two more weeks like that!

Later!

The New Year!

Well now, the new year is upon us and that means resolutions! I like to make resolutions because I like to have some goals. I don't always stick with them, but I do think about them throughout the year. My resolutions for 2010 are:

- Sticking with the exercise routine I started in 2009. It is working out well for me and I am still enjoying it! While many people might not think I need an exercise program, I say wrong. Everyone needs one, especially if like me, you spend most of your time on your butt in front of a computer! I am currently using a program P90X which is a pretty high intesity workout and not for the faint of heart... literally.

- Learn to play at least two songs, completely and without mistakes, on my hammered dulcimer. I love my dulcimer but life gets in the way and the fact that I can't read music might have something to do with that. I really hope to accomplish this one.

- Play more paintball than I did last year... this should be easy. I didn't play ANY last year!

- Become really good with my two new pistols, a Taurus 9mm, and a Ruger .44 magnum. Shooting a rifle with skill, takes talent, but shooting a pistol with skill takes time and talent. I am really good with a rifle, I need to be great with a pistol.

That is all for resolutions. I will let you know how they go!

Later!