After seven years away, I’m going back to GenCon. It’s been far too long since I was last there, and even longer since the late 1990s when GenCon was an annual pilgrimage for my gaming group. I’m looking forward to going back.
It’s finally time to upgrade. After about 3 years with my iPhone 4, I’ve finally upgraded to the iPhone 5S. Obviously I wasn’t in a hurry to upgrade. My iPhone 4 served me well, and the recent iOS 7.1 upgrade breathed some new life into the old hardware by speeding up most interactions. I couldn’t … Read more
It’s probably the goatee.
Somewhere around the year 1998, an alternative version of myself never started watching the Mets again. Never got hooked on the Subway Series between the Mets and the Yankees in 2000. Never started playing baseball games again on his Xbox 360, never started throwing baseballs on the quad at the college where he works, never went to an IronPigs game, never assistant coached his daughter’s softball team…
I have a goal for April: update Nuketown 30 times in 30 days, with at least three updates a week that are blog posts and four that are microcontent. What I’d really like is to do a blog post, review, or column every day of the month, but there’s no way that’s happening. My wife … Read more
My grandfather died on last month, on February 12, 2014. He was 98 years old, and passed away quietly in his sleep. It was surprising, insomuch as the death of someone with nine decades under his belt can be considered surprising. I truly believed he’d live to be a hundred; when I saw him last he looked good — a little tired, but happy.
There’s this meme that’s circulating that claims that themed LEGO sets — Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc. — are killing imagination. The argument goes that unlike the generic sets of old (or even better, the big bin of blocks), these sets kill imagination. Advocates of the Good Old Days … Read more
I’ve got a lot of stuff. A few thousand comics. Hundreds of books. Dozens of board games. An equal number (if not more) of role-playing games. Three Macs (two of which only work haphazardly). And the accumulated technological detritus of 42 years of geeky living.
We got a new kitten and his name is “Zorro”. A kitten who thinks he’s a fox? Well, more like a kitten who thinks he’s a swashbuckler. He’s a spastic ball of furry who loves throwing himself off the the sofa, dueling with the Labrador, and taking running leaps at the curtains. It’s been more … Read more
I walk to work, and as such a good laptop back is a critical part of my commute. For the last few years I’ve used an L.L. Bean messenger bag, but it had become frayed and ink-stained from years of abuse. It’s form factor was also problematic, particularly when I fly, because it was difficult to stow under seats while still giving easy access to its contents. I also wanted easily stow cables, notebooks, pens, and other tools of the my trade. Oh, and a laptop as well.
High school football is a big deal in Pennsylvania. Thanksgiving Day football is an even bigger deal in Easton, Pa. The annual Easton vs. Phillipsburg, NJ game is the oldest interstate matchup in the nation; the first such game was held in 1906 and it’s been going strong ever since.