Drop-In gaming

I went with a friend to a drop-in rpg session on monday. The system was Forgotten Futures.

The group we played with had an interesting house-rule mechanic. At any point a player was allowed to introduce a complication for another character. In effect taking over the narrative for a bit to add a side-plot to the main narrative. This had its pros and its cons. It was nice in that it allowed the story to flow in unexpected directions, and allowed the story to progress beyond the confines of the pre-written adventure we were using. It did, however, have the unfortunate side effect of bogging down the game, and made it difficult to gain the attention of the group when you wanted to act.

Still, a good time was had by all, and the adventure is not over yet, so we will see how skillfully the group is able to juggle the plot threads and bring them all to a satisfactory conclusion.

Sunday Exercise: Sunday was a rest day

Monday Commute: Bike to work. Ride home from friend
Monday Exercise: 4 miles running, 19 miles biking

Tuesday Commute: Bus to work. Bike home.
Tuesday Exercise: 19 miles biking. 1-hour yoga.

Exercise Roundup

I should probably do this at the end of the month, but I'm curious and want to do the calculations now.

Since starting my bike to work program Let's see how many miles I've logged in July

Week 1(July 1-7): 4 miles running, 37 miles biking
Week 2(July 8-14): 9 miles running, 76 miles biking
Week 3(July 15-21): 25 miles running, 76 miles biking
Week 4(July 22-28): 10 miles running, 76 miles biking
Total: 48 miles running, 265 miles biking

I think what I can take away from this is that my running regimen is suffering. By splitting up my bike commute across two days I end up fairly tired. Indeed, this Thursday's bike commute in the morning was slow and painful. I was just very tired. I may need to bite the bullet and start commuting to and from work on the same day. That would leave every other day for running and also give me the all-important rest day.

Friday Commute: Bus to work, bike home
Friday Exercise: 19 miles biking

Saturday Exercise: 5 miles running

Web-Comic Roundup

Here's a list of webcomics that I enjoy. I usually visit these sites even on days when they don't update, just in case a bonus comic gets posted.

The list is provided as much for the reader as for the writer.

Penny Arcade
XKCD
Diesel Sweeties
Achewood
Perry Bible Fellowship
Scarygoround
Dr. McNinja

I hope I didn't forget anyone.

Thursday Commute: Bike to work, bus home
Thursday Exercise: 19 miles biking

Pork Chops Taste Good

It's recipe day. Here's a delicious way to prepare pork chops.

Ingredients:
4 pork chops
1 green apple (Granny Smith)
1/2 onion
2 TBsp Vinegar
Bacon
Salt
Pepper

Trim the fat from around the edges of the chops. Sprinkle one side with salt and pepper and rub salt and pepper in with fingers. Wrap the bacon around the pork chops and secure with toothpicks (You might have to use two slices of bacon depending on the size of pork chop.
Using a grater, shred the apple and onion. Mix in a bowl with the vinegar.
Flip the pork chops over. Rub top side with salt and pepper. Distribute the apple mixture evenly on top of the pork chops. Put the pork chops in a baking dish.
Cook at 425 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Check with a sharp knife and fork to be sure chops are done.
Serve and enjoy.


Tuesday Commute: Bike to work, Bus home
Tuesday Exercise: 19 miles biking

Wednesday Commute: Bus to work, Bike home
Wednesday Exercise: 5 miles Running, 19 miles biking

Dressed in Yellow

I got to play Arkham Horror with some friends on Saturday. Fantasy Flight Games has been consistently making some high quality games with interesting gameplay. Arkham Horror is notable mainly in that it is a cooperative game. Everyone playing either wins or loses.

On Saturday we mixed in the King in Yellow expansion which provides a new way to lose at the game. Playing off the fictional play of the same name (which is referenced in a number of Mythos writings), the expansion forces the players to make choices between allowing the play to advance in acts (causing problems and headaches for the players) and allowing the Big Bad Guy to advance in power, which lets him appear earlier which means the players have less time to prepare.

It's a great game. The rules aren't complex, but there are a fair number of things to do. The biggest complaint is that the rulebook is not set up for quick and easy reference, so it can take a bit to get all the rules down. The flip-side is that it's a cooperative sort of game, so if you can't seem to find the place where it tells you what the red-bordered monsters do that's special, just don't have them do anything and move on.


Sunday Exercise: None

Monday Commute: Bus both ways
Monday Exercise: None

Reading is FUNdaMENTAL

Just finished the Ultramines Omnibus, which is really three books in one. This means I can get back to the fourth book of The Dark Tower. I'm also working through the newly discovered (to me) Geek Monthly. How did I not know about this magazine 4 issues ago?

Finally, I'm starting a lookout for The King in Yellow, first edition.

Thursday Commute: Bus both ways
Thursday Exercise: 6 miles running

Friday Commute: Bike both ways. In the rain. Lots of rain.
Friday Exercise: 38 miles biking

Saturday Exercise: 6 miles running. Hill workout.

Goings On

The forecast calls for an event-heavy weekend with predictions of more events for the next weekend. And of course there's the everpresent work to do on the house and painting of miniatures.

Thursday:
West-side Industry night - Video games industry night at the garage

Friday:
14/48 - Real theater, real fast

Saturday:
14/48 - More real theater, real fast
Board games with friends

Sunday:
Innertubing on the snohomish? Should be cold!

Next Week:
Rat City Rollergirls - second to last bout of the season

Tuesday Commute: Bus to and from work.
Tuesday Exercise: 5 miles running

Wednesday Commute: Bus to work. Bike home.
Wednesday Exercise: 19 miles biking

Formula De

Formula De is a wonderful little game that is soon to be out of print (again). I got together with some friends last night to take a lap around the track. Now that everyone knows the rules I think we'll be able to sit down and do a multi-lap race later in the week.

Also, in case you live in Seattle and don't get out much, go to Ezell's if you're hungry. It doesn't matter what you get, just be sure to pick up some extra rolls. You can never have enough.

Sunday Exercise: 8 miles running

Monday Commute: Bike to work, ride home from a friend
Monday Exercise: 19 miles biking

An Evening of Art

RoqLaRue kicked it like they always do, putting on a great show. Nicoletta Ceccoli's stuff was especially awesome.

Not so interesting to me was BLVD next door. They rarely have art that piques my interest. However, since this month's show was tikki themed they did have an entire roast pig for people to enjoy. I helped myself to some delicious roasted porkness and went back to Roq.

14/48 was kickass like always. My only complaint for this go-round was that more writers than usual seemed to have no idea how to end their plays without being trite or going for the cheap heartstrings. I'm talking to you, Soldier in a Casket, Teenagers Standing Around in a Cave, Runaway Husband Returned, and Wife Hurt by Husband's Affections for Another.

The beginnings and endings of the plays are as a rule thought-out, well-executed and often hilarious. I think the format of the festival lends itself to writers being able to explore a theme or topic or situation, but like improv theater simply exploring the boundaries of a scene doesn't give you the plot lines you need to have a good conclusion, so the writers end up falling back on something trite or nonsensical. I think the best 14/48 plays leave you in the middle of the scene where the audience is able to construe for themselves what the conclusion is going to be (thank you, "Dr. Nussbaum 3:30").


There's still three more nights of the festival this weekend and next. If you like fun you'll like 14/48.


Friday commute: Bus to and from work.
Friday exercise: None. Day of rest.

Saturday exercise: Bike 19 miles

Weekend Events

There's quite a lot going on this weekend. Here's the short list:

14/48 is starting again. I've been to a few of these and they're pretty great. They are located at the CHAC now. Basically a bunch of theater types get together and create, rehearse and perform a half dozen or more short plays in 24 hours. http://1448fest.com/

RoqlaRue and BLVD are having their July openings. I'm not usually a super huge fan of BLVD but this month is a Tikki show so that should at least be interesting. http://www.roqlarue.com http://www.blvdart.com/

Additionally, I'm attending a wedding reception and hopefully going out canoing on lake washington.

Minus Eighteen Point Five

Yesterday (Wednesday) marked the end of the zipper weight loss challenge. My team took home the winning honors and the pot of cash. One month ago I weighed in at 171 pounds, and yesterday (after a run in ninety degree heat) I weighed in at 152.5. The other two members of my team rallied as well, coming in 16 and 8 pounds lighter than when they started.

My one-month weight loss experiment has revealed the following weight loss secrets:

Eat less (this one is key). Some simple steps to eating less are to avoid snacks and soda. One of my team members did nothing except switch his Dr. Pepper intake from regular to diet. To stave off my munchies I upped my green tea intake. Caffeine is a natural appetite suppressant and green tea has a number of other weight loss and health benefits.

Exercise is important not only to burn calories but to keep your metabolism up. Suddenly diminishing your food intake can cause your body to go into storage mode and you need it to keep going. Also important so that your body burns fat instead of just consuming its muscle.

Was I hungry? Sometimes. But I didn't stop eating anything or hold myself to a strict diet. I still included carbohydrates because those are important for exercising. I still had a week where I had made a chocolate cake and worked my way through that. I occasionally indulged in soda and I occasionally had a piece of candy. The point was that such things should be treats. By eating candy every day or going out to dinner all the time we make this things an every day part of our lives and consuming them becomes so commonplace we don't even think about the repercussions.

That's my weight loss rant.


Wednesday's commute: Bus to work and home.
Wednesday's exercise: 4 mile run. Temperature outside got up to over 100 degrees.

Thursday's commute: Bike to work. Bus home.
Thursday's exercise: 19 miles biking.

Easing in to it

Since I'm just starting out on my bike to work gig I'm trying to ease myself into it. I'm making sure I don't try biking to and from work on the same day until I've got a couple of hundred miles under my belt (and some bike shorts around my waist. My butt's killing me). So far this is working out pretty well.

The thing I have yet to figure out is how to stop taking so much stuff. I'm packing a giant REI backpack full of clothes and books and shoes to work every day. I'm in desperate need of some better planning in this department.

Tomorrow ends the weight loss contest we've been having at work.

Monday's Commute: Bike to work in the morning. Ride home from an out of town friend around midnight.
Monday's Exercise: 19 miles biking.

Tuesday's Commute: Bus in the morning. Bike home in the evening.
Tuesday's Exercise: 5 miles running, 19 miles biking.

Day of Rest

Today is a day of rest (just like the church tells us to). Puttering around the house and working in the yard is the order of the day.

Yesterday I got together with some friends to play D&D. Role-playing takes on a different sort of vibe when you get older. There's not as much emphasis on the mechanics of the game and we spend more time being in-character. I can remember gaming sessions when I was younger where we'd waste hours fantasizing about what our fantasy personae were going to do, and in the end they didn't do any of it, making them just as lame as we were in real life. Now we get together and we're pirates on the high seas storming military ships and taking on their entire crew.

Friday's Commute: Bus in the morning. Ride home from a friend in the evening.
Saturday Exercise: Bike 18mile

Rise From Your Grave

I've left the blog dormant for a while now. I believe it is time for a resuscitation. I find myself wishing I had a location to record my daily exercise activities. An exercise log can be valuable for determining progress towards a goal.

Also, an unfortunate event has left me without a vehicle. I live twenty or so miles from where I work, so I figured I would chronicle the various ways I will be commuting.

Finally, I've found myself in the kitchen quite a bit lately, and I'd like to have a reference for what I've made and where the recipes can be found.

To kick things off:

Thursday's exercise: Running - 4miles Biking - 19 miles
Thursday's commute: Bus in the morning and bike home in the evening. 1 hour 50 minutes for the commute home. I believe this time can be improved.

Recipe

1 package "Gourmet Baker" Buttermilk Crumpets
6 tablespoons horseradish
1 dozen large basil leaves
2 tomatoes
1 cup grated cheese

Preparation
Preheat oven to two hundred fifty degrees.
Coarsely chop the basil into strips. This can be best accomplished by gathering the basil into a bunch then chopping from one end to another. A single chopping pass should be all that is required.
The crumpets can be toasted if desired. I prefer untoasted.
Slice the tomatoes then cut each slice in half. If the tomatoes slices are not cut in half the final product will be difficult to eat as the tomato slides around on top of the crumpet.

After arranging the crumpets on a cookie sheet, evenly distribute the horseradish, then the basil, between them. The tomatoes go on next. The cheese is put on top so that is can melt over everything, holding it in place.

Place the cookie sheet with crumpets in the oven.

The crumpets will be done when the cheese is fully melted. This should take fifteen to twenty minutes. Some people prefer that the cheese be given time to run off the crumpet onto the cookie sheet where it will start to bubble. Letting it get to this point will cause the cheese on the cookie sheet to become crispy after it has cooled. To some, this is desirable and so both ways should eventually be tried to discover which you prefer.

Pepper may be sprinkled on top after removing from the oven.

Allow to cool slightly, then enjoy.

North Idaho and Snow

I had a lovely visit to Sandpoint. There was a two-turkey thanksgiving dinner that brought my personal holiday turkey count to three. Lots of food and visiting. I got to see the downtown area. It has changed quite dramatically from when I was there over a decade ago. It was also helpful to have a tour guide that grew up in the town.
Just a few days before leaving it started to snow. It was still snowing when the train pulled out of the station and headed back to Seattle. It snowed all the way from Sandpoint to Seattle. Once we were finally in Seattle proper it stopped snowing. Then it started snowing. Now there is an inch of snow on the ground. Snow provides the opportunity to be simultaneously subjected to the two worst states of being: cold and wet.
Tomorrow I have a load of lumber to recycle. With only three days left in the month, I'm worried that I won't be able to reach the three hundred pound mark.

Raw Fish

Sushi is not is readily available in Idaho. Sure there are some upscale places in the major population center where a craving for raw fish can be satisfied. In Boise these places are few and position themselves as wild and exotic. Contrast this with Seattle where the streets are practically paved with tuna and albacore. I suppose my disappointment in Idaho's lack of priorities in this area put me in the liberal elite category. Always part of the problem, never part of the solution. If I really cared I would buy salmon at the market and ship it to ranchers in Pocatello.
It was a low key day that I eased into with a bit of drum practice on my snooze button. I finally pulled myself out of bed and snored my way through a workout at the gym. It was an unusually warm morning and I should have gone running. I Ran some errands in Redmond then topped the day off with a boatload of sushi.
Another twenty pounds of flotsam was removed. Among the items donated or thrown away: A few hundred feet of ethernet cable and phone cord, two(2) five year old DSL modems and half a dozen playstation 2 games. One of the benefits of disposing of so much stuff is the free closet space that is created. I was able to reorganize and piles of stuff left the office floor and is out of sight behind closed doors.
Two hundred twenty pounds down and eighty pounds to go.

Parental Visitation

I just arrived in Seattle, back from visiting my parents. It was too short of a visit to have done anything terribly exciting. Boise is colder than Seattle this time of year, so there was not much that I would have wanted to do outside the house. Still, we were all able to amuse ourselves and enjoy each others company. We played Scrabble and walked around downtown browsing the shops. Of course we also had copious amounts of food. Thanksgiving was even moved to today so we could enjoy it with each other. Before boarding the plane we feasted on turkey, green beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes and chocolate chip cookies.
My nephew was with us the whole time. I see him only when I see my parents and so it is interesting to note his developmental changes between visits. This time he was walking and talking and had excellent comprehension. I wonder if each incremental change is noticable to those who are around him all the time or if I notice them more because there are such larger gaps between visits.
Tomorrow should be a busy day full of errands and packing as preparations are made for the next trip.

Just a Day

Today was simply a day. Pie was baked, games were played and sandwiches were made. I packed a little for the trip to Boise. The evening was spent in the company of friends. We watched TV and ate fried chicken and caramel apple pie. It was quite the all American dinner. No communists here.

Vacation from Vacation

Preparations are coming to completion for the upcoming travels. Arrangements have been made for the first leg. The only snag is that we are unable to find someone to come in to look after the cats during the second leg of the journey. Trying to hire a professional petsitter this close to a major holiday is nigh impossible. We will have to look to amateurs in the field to fulfill our needs. Is it callous to leave one's beloved pets in the hands of those who have not undergone the extensive and rigorous training required to be a professional catsitter? I hope not.

The current total weight discarded is now an even two hundred pounds. The fourty four pound jump was made possible by disposing of a number of satchels that I no longer use and also some jigsaw puzzles that were assembled a decade ago and have not had their boxes opened since. Progress towards the three hundred pound goal seems to be good, but I am worried that the upcoming time spent away from home will slow my efforts and the project at risk.
Lunch was taken in Bothell with some friends who work in that area. There is a pub that that serves alchoholic beverages and a variety of grilled or fried foods. When the burger with gorgonzola arrived my fingers were greasy from merely touching the plate it rested on. It was delicious.
I have been promised that a pie will be made tomorrow. I look forward to caramel-appley goodness.