Tuesday, July 29, 2008

I Think it's a Tradition Now.

Today is Nora and my 2nd wedding anniversary.

Again, we went to the Little Red Day Spa for massages and watsu. They always treat us well there.

I hope we can make it there a time or two during the year this time. We still haven't been to the Little Red Studio for one of their shows, either. I'm pretty sure we'll take care of that sometime soon.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Fresh scent may hide toxic secret

This doesn't seem like new information to me. I guess science has just caught up with what I'd assumed over ten years ago: perfume doesn't make you clean. The chemicals that are added to 'enhance' the smell are not only unnecessary ('clean' doesn't really have a smell), but, in some cases, harmful.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Pic from Someone Else's Wedding

This is one of my favorite, random internet photos.

A Book about Seattle Architecture

Note to self:




I've been looking for a book like this ever since I started working downtown.

Friday, July 18, 2008

455,543

455,543 people have watched this presentation featuring Halo 3 weapons. I don't know what to make of that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e45J0SCXO5s&eurl

Food

I’ve been thinking about food a lot lately. This is new to me, as I’ve not been very food oriented for my entire life. Sure, there’ve always been things I’ve liked more than others, but I rarely paid much attention.

I guess this shift came from watching a few too many episodes of No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. It’s a good show, and while it features food, it’s also about travel, and I really enjoy Bourdain’s commentary, which runs throughout the show.

Slowly, his intensity for food as rubbed off on me. It doesn’t take a professional chef to know that the smell that wafts from Subway isn’t right, or to notice when a dish at a restaurant is lazily planned or prepared. Even I know that there’s no reason to use American cheese. Ever.

I’m also re-evaluating my vegetarianism. I’ve been off meat for something around ten years, so I think it’s time to evaluate. I already know that I won’t be reintroducing beef into my diet. It still takes eight times the resources to grow a cow to feed a person as it would to just feed the person. I’m also not very enthused about chicken. I suppose organic / free range chickens might be okay to eat. Forget about pork (I do still miss bacon though).

Mostly, I’m thinking about certain kinds of fish. Just two days ago I purchased Bottomfeeder, How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood by Taras Grescoe. Even in the introduction it’s clear that some, if not most, fish should be avoided for a mix of environmental and health reasons. However, it sounds like there are many other kinds that are healthy and thriving. After I finish the book and understand the arguments, I’ll make my decisions.

While I haven’t historically been a huge seafood fan, as I mentioned above, my relationship with food has evolved since I quite eating anything with a nervous system.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Sports Drinks

Now that I'm running a lot, I've taken a renewed interest in sports drinks.

So far, Accelerade seems best. It has sugar instead of the high fructose corn syrup found in Powerade and Gatorade. It also has some protein, which is also good for me. As a vegetarian, protein intake is something I need to watch. I've had a little trouble finding a reliable source of Accelerade; even the stores that carry it, don't have it in stock reliably, and they often don't have more than one flavor in stock at a time.

This led me to examine Gatorade's current offerings. Nowadays, there's Gatorade Fierece, Gatorade a.m., Gatorade Tiger (licensed by Tiger Woods), Gatorade Rai... and all seem to come in a handful of flavors.

The thing is, all those products HAVE THE SAME FORMULA! There's no nutritional difference between the different Gatorades. Even the A.M. formula! According to the Gatorade marketing department, Gatorade A.M. has flavors that one might like to taste when exercising in the morning.

Now, Gatorade does carry G2 which is a lower calorie verison; at least that is functionally different than the others. That doesn't help me any, but I can see why someone would be interested.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

One more thing.



Above all, this pic reminds me of how blessed I am to be in this group of friends, and in this wonderful marriage. Forgive my moment of sentimentality.

Stolen Vacation Pics!




















Vacation Bonanza!





More Vacation Photos!





Vacation Photos!





Monday, July 14, 2008

Marvel Game

I'd better start writing about the Marvel session we had, or I'll start forgetting details.

Nora and Dean were particularly strong role-players. David and Nick score highly on the entertainment scale.

One problem with the game is the length of battle. With a handful or robots versus relatively inexperienced players, it took quite awhile to resolve. I think if we played more, the players would get better at using basic tactics. I'll probably stop using antagonists with body armor too.

I had a few missed opportunities, as the game master: one character was separated from the rest of the group, alone with a mysterious NPC who they'd just met. I was playing that NPC down the middle, and generally prepared for him to be either an allie or an enemy. That would have been a perfect opportunity for the NPC to turn crazy and try to capture or subdue the Player Character.

Later in the session, a player activated a summoning ritual during the climactic battle. First off, I probably shouldn't have allowed that ability during combat. Then, when the player rolled a moderate success, a creature was summoned. That was sorta cool: I introduced a magic wielding mind flayer (inspired by Cthulu). The problem was, he wasn't that powerful compared with the player characters and robots. He had an Amazing level magic bolt, which is really pretty good, but so does the character who summoned him. Except, it took that player three rounds to complete the summoning. Then, the creature was killed a few rounds later. All in all, it wasn't very satisfying. It was amusing though, when Nick started doing Dr. Zoidberg impressions.

My players were a little reluctant to take action early on; in retrospect it was kinda funny. I nearly had to order them to go save the 10 year old from the Sentinels.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Vacation, Phase II

We didn't know what to expect when we registered at the Lazy Daze. I, for one, was unclear about how much of our own space we would have, and how divided our area would be from the rest of the house. Much of this comes from never having stayed at a bed and breakfast before.

It turns out that the house was very large, and technically not divided up at all. In essence, we stayed right in and amongst our hosts. For the most part, however, we camped out in their very nice basement / game room. They did a fabulous job of giving us room and privacy while also making us feel welcome, and going out of their way to add to our experience. Now, for a list of events:

  • The last of us arrived around 7:30 (one had to put in a full day's work). There was dinner (mostly engineered, I believe, by Nora. There was then much drinking and settling in and eventually, we started Munchkin Cthulu around the inactive gas firepit, this time with the full complement of six players. The game went long into the night; afterwards, most of us took our first dip into the wonderful hot tub. Two of us even took a foray down the hill to the river; apparently one even hopped in.
  • The next morning's breakfast was amazing and served at 9 a.m. Most of us had mimosas. Remarkably, no one was severely hung over.
  • Our hosts then kindly boated us (along with some of their other friends) down to the China Bend Winery. After much wine tasting and purchasing, we headed home.
  • We stopped off in a small bay to swim. Initially I had no intention of getting in the water... After a few minutes the sun's warmth really set in, and a handfull of us started jumping in and swimming around. After all the women went in (Nora was the second one over all!), I knew I had to go. I shucked off my shirt, tucked my hat and wallet safely beside and hopped off the end of the dock. I was wearing sunglasses at the time. They're gone now. David swims like a fish.
  • That evening, Nora engineered dinner for the group, including our hosts. It was super tasty. There was more hot tubbing (I think only Nora and I this time around), and we tried a game called Spite. We were tired and the game was not a hit.
  • We had waffles the next morning!
  • Then began the day of Marvel Super Heroes. Unfortunately, Tony was pulled away due to family commitments. We can't complain about that, he did a great job of keeping it all balanced throughout the week. We played for 10ish hours, which was probably too much. I'll write more about the game later. It was definitely fun, and there were some take away lessons on all sides.
  • At some point, the beer ran out.
  • Nick, Dave and Nora prepared dinner for us, thankfully. We had eaten crap all day long.
  • We got a late start and were walking along a dark country road when the fireworks started. We pretty much missed the whole show, and I don't think anyone really cared.
  • After we got back, Art fixed the pinball machines, and we had a final flurry of pinball and video gaming. I packed.
  • We said advanced good-byes.
  • The next morning, Nick helped us load our car; everyone else was still in bed. After all, it was only 7 a.m.
  • We stopped off for the volunteer firefighter's pancake breakfast in Northport, and headed home.
  • We made great time, and were able to pick up our cats a couple days earlier than expected. Greycat seems to have taken the boarding more in stride, but both are doing well now.

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Summer Vacation 2008

First, a quick list of what we did:

  • Drove to Colville
  • Checked in at Benny's - had to have a 'smoking room' for the first two days because Grangers had taken the others for the weekend.
  • Gathered with Nick and Dean
  • Mexican food and margaritas at Rancho Chico, then drinks at The Acorn. The food disappointed slightly, but the beers did not.
  • Next day, I ran four miles.
  • Dean came over to the motel, and we played Munchkin Cthulu for the first time. Munchkin is a great game, and perfect for the group. I believe Nora won the first game (hooray!).
  • Nora, Dean and I drove to Spokane for The Party with Tess and Mitzi at Mitzi's place.
  • There are many pictures from this party; it was awesome in many ways. Everyone loves Nora (hooray!).
  • Tony and Nick met us there. David stayed in Colville in preparation of The Three Days of Hay.
  • We drove back that night. Dean was feeling kinda chatty, which kept me awake. Thank goodness.
  • On Sunday, Nora and I ate at Park Place, the restaurant next to Benny's. The food was not very good. A particularly obnoxious right winger sat at a table next to us, holding court with his friends. It was particularly frustrating that he had a couple valid points wrapped up in his ignorance and meanness. In retrospect, this may have taken place on Saturday morning.
  • We had lunch at an oasis of good food and good service called The Courthouse Cafe. Everyone in or near Colville should eat there often. Nora had salad. Yummy! Tony met us there with his kids, on his way homeward.
  • I ran six miles.
  • Then we switched to a better, non smoking room, with a king sized bed! Hooray!
  • Dean, Nora and I played Clue and Mille Bourne.
  • We met up with Nick and introduced him to Munchkin Cthulu.
  • On Monday, Tony and I ran 10 miles. It was awesome. Tony kept me to my 8 minute mile, but proved a very even keeled and entertaining running companion.
  • Dean came by after his half day's work at the shop with his Dad. I believe we played more Munchkin Cthulu, then headed up to Nick's. I'm pretty sure I'm mixing up some of these details.
  • Cafe Italiano was closed, so we went to Tony's. I had a pesto dish which was very good. I believe we went to Nick's place after.
  • I didn't run on Tuesday.
  • Nora swam a lot, I swam a little.
  • Dean and Tony came by around 4ish, and Tony learned Munchkin Cthulu.
  • Nick came by around 5:15ish.
  • I think Tony had to leave, and the rest of us went out for pizza (Westside Pizza. The name makes no sense to me. Technically, it's on the east side of Colville. Nora suggested it has to do with the westside of Colville.)
  • I think I got my days mixed up again: I"m pretty sure we at at Cafe Italiano on Tuesday. Probably we went to Tony's on Sunday and Westside Pizza on Monday. Anyway, whenever it was that we went to Cafe Italiano, the experience was wonderful. It was sparsely attended, and they closed as soon as we left; the food was delicious, and the service was friendly and attentive.
  • Then we watched Little Miss Sunshine. We invented a process for making the decision, since we all had different movies we wanted to see.
  • Wednesday, I ran 8 miles. Whew, that was a tiring one. It was hot, I forgot my hat AND my sunglasses.
  • Then we packed up, had breakfast at the Courthouse Cafe again, did a little shopping and headed for Northport!
  • Nora and I had lunch at the Mustang Grill, before checking in at Lazy-Daze. The food was great! They had garden burgers!
  • I'll try to get to the second half of our vacation today or tomorrow. I'll need some time to describe our days at Lazy Daze.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Moderate Excess

So far, the vacation is predictably fabulous. I've introduced my wife and other friends to Munchkin Cthulu, which is a great game for this group. Few of us have read much Lovecraft, but it's easy enough to understand Victorian era horrible monster hunting. My friends and I were weaned on 1st edition Advanced D&D, and had a few copies of Deities and Demigods floating around. That book included a whole chapter on the Cthulu mythos. Then they discovered that those characters were copyright protected and had to go away (along with Moorcock's Melnibone' set) from later editions.

Yesterday we also played a few rounds of Clue. It had been years since any of us had played it, so we were all on equal footing. The strength of Clue is that it demands a different kind of game play than most board games: you have to work out the logic, plus try and read your opponents' mannerisms. Almost oddly, I'm not a huge fan of it. This shouldn't be interpreted as a judgment of the game itself. Rather, it's a very personal preference because the game doesn't directly line up with my own strengths. As I told the group, "I'll enjoy it when we play, but I probably won't ever suggest it."

The food in Colville is hit and miss. We discovered a great place for breakfast and lunch called The Courthouse Cafe. Unfortunately it doesn't have beer or wine, and isn't open for dinner. It did remind me that not all tasty beverages require alcohol. The service is also quick and friendly, and all the food has been top notch.

On the other side of things, in other places, we've encountered some lazy food (chile rellenos that really weren't, grilled cheese with good bread but yucky American cheese, and a generally dissatisfying set of omelets for brunch).

It's fairly easy to get good beer in Colville now. That's an improvement. During my last trip, I discovered a local brewery called 'Lost Falls' that I enjoyed, but I can't find it anywhere anymore.

Another high point of the trip so far was running 10 miles yesterday morning with Tony. We kept tight to my comfortable but not too comfortable 8 minute mile. I don't believe I've ever run that far before. Since I don't think I had ever run 9 miles before doing so last month, these mileage personal records aren't so novel anymore.