"Pitchers and Catchers Report."
Baseball's back, baby! Spring Training sites are opening up all over Florida and Arizona, and optimism reigns supreme. Of course, these things are relative -- for my beloved Houston Astros, optimism is all about not sucking quite so bad as last year. A 106-loss season will suck the life out of the most dedicated fan.
And it's not like the 'Stros are going to get better right away. The young guys they're playing now are mostly just place-holders for the more-talented young guys who are still a couple of years away. New guys like Jose Altuve, Jimmy Paredes, and J.D. Martinez are the best we've got right now, but they're hardly world-beaters.
I'll write more in depth about the new season after the teams have had a few weeks to settle things out. But for now, I'm just glad to see all the reports from the camps and hear all the optimism.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Out Of The Tunnel
I spent the better part of the last two weeks going through my massive game collection, plus books, comics, DVDs, and other things that are heavy. Boxing it all up and carting it around made me think of the old saying, "Friends help you move. Real friends help you move books."
Some of the stuff went to Half-Price Books. The prices aren't the best, but it's one-stop convenience, and they got most of the non-game material. The rest is going to Noble Knight, a huge online game dealer located in Janesville, WI, not too far from my old stomping grounds in my TSR days at Lake Geneva. I have catalogued 24 boxes of stuff, and we are in the process of getting it all shipped their way and sold. So far, things have gone really well and I can give them a high recommendation.
So what's in these 24 boxes, weighing well over half a ton? The single biggest contributor was Call of Cthulhu. For several decades I pretty much bought every new CoC supplement that came out. I haven't actually played CoC in years, mind you, but I kept all the stuff, y'know, just in case. Plus, until I found Noble Knight, I had no idea how to deal with the pile other than throwing it all away (which I just wasn't going to do). Other games healthily represented included Axis & Allies Miniatures and Boardgames, XXVc (remember the Buck Rogers roleplaying game?), D&D in all its various editions, plus a healthy collection of Steve Jackson Games material (mostly employee comps) dating back to my many years working there.
My office was a total disaster area, with filled bookcases in every open wall space, plus a pile of stuff on the floor filling the rest of the room to a depth of about three feet. But now ... the furniture is still here, but the rest of it is gone! That means the painters and carpet people can get in here and spruce things up, which I'm looking forward to.
In other news, I RTD (Return To Duty) tonight at the IRS. I don't expect things to be any different from last year, but we'll see.
Some of the stuff went to Half-Price Books. The prices aren't the best, but it's one-stop convenience, and they got most of the non-game material. The rest is going to Noble Knight, a huge online game dealer located in Janesville, WI, not too far from my old stomping grounds in my TSR days at Lake Geneva. I have catalogued 24 boxes of stuff, and we are in the process of getting it all shipped their way and sold. So far, things have gone really well and I can give them a high recommendation.
So what's in these 24 boxes, weighing well over half a ton? The single biggest contributor was Call of Cthulhu. For several decades I pretty much bought every new CoC supplement that came out. I haven't actually played CoC in years, mind you, but I kept all the stuff, y'know, just in case. Plus, until I found Noble Knight, I had no idea how to deal with the pile other than throwing it all away (which I just wasn't going to do). Other games healthily represented included Axis & Allies Miniatures and Boardgames, XXVc (remember the Buck Rogers roleplaying game?), D&D in all its various editions, plus a healthy collection of Steve Jackson Games material (mostly employee comps) dating back to my many years working there.
My office was a total disaster area, with filled bookcases in every open wall space, plus a pile of stuff on the floor filling the rest of the room to a depth of about three feet. But now ... the furniture is still here, but the rest of it is gone! That means the painters and carpet people can get in here and spruce things up, which I'm looking forward to.
In other news, I RTD (Return To Duty) tonight at the IRS. I don't expect things to be any different from last year, but we'll see.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Your Tax Dollars At Work
Got the call -- going back to work at the IRS for another tax season, starting Jan. 31. I work in the ITIN division, which is responsible for issuing Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers to people who don't have a Social Security Number but still need to deal with the IRS, either as filers, claimed dependents, or something else. I work the night shift, 5 pm to 1:30 am, because it pays more than days.
I will not see Louise very much the next few months, as our schedules are complete opposites. That's tough, and things will only get more complicated as we continue to work on moving. Speaking of, the interior painting is almost done, and I am closing in on finishing the liquidation of my vast game and book collection. I feel like an archaeologist as I dig deeper and deeper into stacks, boxes, and the occasional Hoarders-style pile of RPG books, old magazines, comic books, card games, board games, CCG sets, and more. It's quite the trip down memory lane, coupled with many "what was I thinking?" moments. Good times.
I will not see Louise very much the next few months, as our schedules are complete opposites. That's tough, and things will only get more complicated as we continue to work on moving. Speaking of, the interior painting is almost done, and I am closing in on finishing the liquidation of my vast game and book collection. I feel like an archaeologist as I dig deeper and deeper into stacks, boxes, and the occasional Hoarders-style pile of RPG books, old magazines, comic books, card games, board games, CCG sets, and more. It's quite the trip down memory lane, coupled with many "what was I thinking?" moments. Good times.
Friday, January 20, 2012
I Got Hacked!
Every once in a while, I get an email from a friend, but it's not really from them. The copy is usually pretty generic, or has nothing to do with them at all, and it invites me to click on a link. I usually delete the email and think to myself, "Poor sucker got hacked. Glad I'm too smart for that."
Well . . . um . . . you see, the thing is . . . it happened to me. I got some emails earlier this week from friends, asking, "uh, did you mean to send this to me?" And I was appalled. I got suckered. I know who did it, too -- Seth Myers of Saturday Night Live fame, via his Twitter feed. The tweet didn't make a lot of sense, but I figured he was a comedian and maybe he was making some sort of joke. Turns out the joke was on me.
The upside of computer problems is that it gives me an excuse to talk to my personal IT guru, my stepson Ben. He walked me through Spybot and Adblock Plus and answered some other computer questions I had been saving up for the next time I talked to him. He and his lovely bride seem to be doing well, but he sounded tired -- you gotta work a lot of hours to make a living at the wages WalMart pays.
Then, as a bonus, I put his mother on the line, which I know made Louise's night. That felt good.
Well . . . um . . . you see, the thing is . . . it happened to me. I got some emails earlier this week from friends, asking, "uh, did you mean to send this to me?" And I was appalled. I got suckered. I know who did it, too -- Seth Myers of Saturday Night Live fame, via his Twitter feed. The tweet didn't make a lot of sense, but I figured he was a comedian and maybe he was making some sort of joke. Turns out the joke was on me.
The upside of computer problems is that it gives me an excuse to talk to my personal IT guru, my stepson Ben. He walked me through Spybot and Adblock Plus and answered some other computer questions I had been saving up for the next time I talked to him. He and his lovely bride seem to be doing well, but he sounded tired -- you gotta work a lot of hours to make a living at the wages WalMart pays.
Then, as a bonus, I put his mother on the line, which I know made Louise's night. That felt good.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
No, They Don't Come On Wheels
My lovely wife dropped some interesting literature on me last week in regard to our search for a smaller, cheaper place to live -- brochures and promotional material from a manufactured housing company.
My first reaction was not positive. Many years ago (my senior year in college) I lived in what was called back then a "trailer home." I don't remember if it was on wheels or not, but it was a dump, cheap and flimsy. It did fit my economic needs, however, as we were splitting the rent four ways. But it did forever color my opinion of this type of housing.
Until Louise took me back to the company's lot yesterday afternoon. I was really impressed by the quality, the space, the commitment to energy efficiency, and the prices and financing options. The homes are installed on traditional foundations, not put up on blocks or wheels. This could work.
Speaking of work, the interior house painting is coming along nicely, but there's a ton of stuff to do of the sorting/packing/hauling variety. The only way to tackle a pile this big is one bite at a time. So I'm off to nibble ...
My first reaction was not positive. Many years ago (my senior year in college) I lived in what was called back then a "trailer home." I don't remember if it was on wheels or not, but it was a dump, cheap and flimsy. It did fit my economic needs, however, as we were splitting the rent four ways. But it did forever color my opinion of this type of housing.
Until Louise took me back to the company's lot yesterday afternoon. I was really impressed by the quality, the space, the commitment to energy efficiency, and the prices and financing options. The homes are installed on traditional foundations, not put up on blocks or wheels. This could work.
Speaking of work, the interior house painting is coming along nicely, but there's a ton of stuff to do of the sorting/packing/hauling variety. The only way to tackle a pile this big is one bite at a time. So I'm off to nibble ...
Monday, January 16, 2012
Book Tour 2012
Still reading . . .
4. The Last Testament: A Memoir. By God and David Javerbaum. "God" retells most of the major stories of the Bible (Creation, The Flood, Abraham and Isaac, Exodus from Egypt, Jesus), shedding new light on the events with behind-the-scenes tidbits. (For example, God gets so caught up in the awesome display of faith Abraham shows by agreeing to kill his son, that He forgets to stop the sacrifice, until an angel reminds him at the last second.)
Smaller sections answer the big theological questions: Why do bad things happen to good people? Does God answer prayers, especially at sporting events? What about all the other religions? The God of this book is a bit dysfunctional, with some serious anger management problems (which he cops to), and a philanderer (dalliances with other universes). I wasn't looking for theological insight in this book, and I didn't get any. What I was looking for -- some laughs -- I got plenty of. Worth the time.
4. The Last Testament: A Memoir. By God and David Javerbaum. "God" retells most of the major stories of the Bible (Creation, The Flood, Abraham and Isaac, Exodus from Egypt, Jesus), shedding new light on the events with behind-the-scenes tidbits. (For example, God gets so caught up in the awesome display of faith Abraham shows by agreeing to kill his son, that He forgets to stop the sacrifice, until an angel reminds him at the last second.)
Smaller sections answer the big theological questions: Why do bad things happen to good people? Does God answer prayers, especially at sporting events? What about all the other religions? The God of this book is a bit dysfunctional, with some serious anger management problems (which he cops to), and a philanderer (dalliances with other universes). I wasn't looking for theological insight in this book, and I didn't get any. What I was looking for -- some laughs -- I got plenty of. Worth the time.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Book Tour 2012
I want to read more books in 2012, and one way to keep myself motivated is to blog about them. So 10 days in to the New Year, I have already knocked off a few:
1. Writing Movies forFun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too. By Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon. You may remember Garant and Lennon from the Comedy Central series Reno 911!, but mostly they work as Hollywood screenwriters. Their goal, as they entertainingly relate in the book, is not to write good movies, but to write successful ones. And there's lots of serious, practical advice on how to do just that. Unfortunately, their very first rule -- move to L.A. -- was a dealbreaker for me, but a lot else of what they said was great advice for writers (and game designers) in general. Plus it's a very funny read.
2. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. By Max Brooks (son of comedy legend Mel). When we went to visit my stepson Ben and his wife just before Christmas, at some point the conversation turned to this book. Ben said he hadn't read it, and Louise and I both insisted he should. So we tracked down our copy when we got back home, and I'm sending it off to him. But before I packed it up, I opened it and started reading, just to see if it was as good as I remembered it. Finished it early the next day. It was as good as I remembered it.
3. Pawnee: The Greatest Town In America. By Leslie Knope. Leslie Knope, of course, is the fictional character played by Amy Poehler in the NBC comedy Parks & Recreation, and this is a tie-in book to separate the fans from their money. They even worked the book into the storyline last fall for one of those synergistic cross-promotion things. Which would normally annoy me, but the book is the funniest thing I've read in a long time. Fair warning: If you don't know the characters and story of the TV show, many of the jokes will make no sense at all. For fans, though, this is a laugh-out-loud (which I did many times, much to the consternation of my wife) treat.
1. Writing Movies for
2. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. By Max Brooks (son of comedy legend Mel). When we went to visit my stepson Ben and his wife just before Christmas, at some point the conversation turned to this book. Ben said he hadn't read it, and Louise and I both insisted he should. So we tracked down our copy when we got back home, and I'm sending it off to him. But before I packed it up, I opened it and started reading, just to see if it was as good as I remembered it. Finished it early the next day. It was as good as I remembered it.
3. Pawnee: The Greatest Town In America. By Leslie Knope. Leslie Knope, of course, is the fictional character played by Amy Poehler in the NBC comedy Parks & Recreation, and this is a tie-in book to separate the fans from their money. They even worked the book into the storyline last fall for one of those synergistic cross-promotion things. Which would normally annoy me, but the book is the funniest thing I've read in a long time. Fair warning: If you don't know the characters and story of the TV show, many of the jokes will make no sense at all. For fans, though, this is a laugh-out-loud (which I did many times, much to the consternation of my wife) treat.
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