Not doin it doggie style

Well, no gaming this weekend. John and Luke are partying tomorrow. Nick works late tonight, and Wendy works early tomorrow. Both have conflicting schedules Sunday. Boo. Unfortunately, Wendy and I are on vacation next weekend (Wizard World Chicago, baby!), so no gaming then either.

Fortunately, after that we've got three weeks to nail my campaign (hopefully) before Nick and I hit camping. In theory, the next adventure (part 1 in a 4-6 part quest) will probably take two or three sessions, so most likely that'll be August, with the odd week either filled with the monster campaign or another playtest for a start up d20 company. After that, though, short of holidays, I don't see missing much gaming (I hope). I'd like to get the quest wrapped up by Christmas, which in theory should put the characters at about level 7 or 8 and primed for some world saving. In theory. There's always the chance the players will decide this whole fighting evil thing isn't for them, so they'd rather move to Crocus, infiltrate the theives' guild and take over. Or join forces with the evil desert wizard devoted to steam golems and in need of a group of adventures to divert the Green River to his sand castle fortress thereby powering his army of petrified tree mechs and allowing him to conquer the world.... But even so, there's a plan in place if nobody decides to do anything. If they do, that's fine. In fact, it's encouraged.

Can you tell it was another slow day? I could talk about Frist breaking ranks on stem cell research (which is a move I think we'll see more of as he gears up for a ran at the top). I could talk about the disappointing grounding of Atlantis. I just don't feel like it.

nameless

From Monte Cook's Journal:

Sometimes living with a dog is like living with a mildly insane person that doesn't speak my language.

So is living with cats, Monte. So is living with cats.

In other news, today was filled with getting shit done. Laundry, vacuuming. Got a great start on one of the maps for the book.

Trying to has out the procedure for the mapping. I definitely want a hand drawn look to them, which is easy to get in Campaign Cartographer, which I use. What's not easy to get is a hand colored look, since CC2 is a vector based tool, which means no fades or anything like that so the "brushed" look is out. Unless, and this is what I started on today, I use CC2 to get a very specific map outline down, which I output as a jpg. From there, I open the file in GIMP or Photoshop and paint it up by hand from there. That way, I'll get the hand drawn/painted look, but it'll be to a very specific scale.... That's the plan anyway.

Back to work. Hasta la tacos.

simmering

What to talk about..... I jammed to my MP3 player until the battery pooped out today, so little news has hit me, although some of the feminist activism lists I somehow got on are telling me my right to birth control is in danger. Funny thing is, earlier this year I did read an article about a tablet in development that acts as birth control for dudes. Obviously it'll be a year or two afore that hits the shelves, unless my right to birth control is truly in danger....

I also saw an article on the BBC (can't find the link now) about an female android they made in Japan. Looks totally real in the face, and apparently has a lot of upper body movement that is authentic. Of course, it only has upper body movement and needs an air compressor at hand, so it aint' moving anywhere. Still, if you're a lonely guy needing some love, I don't know that you need to hit the town, really. ;)

Oh yeah. Got my hiking pack today. Sweet. Very excited. Surprisingly good quality for military surplus. My only beefs are that I don't know how the hell I'm gonna get my sleeping bag in it, and that since I didn't get to try it on (mail order), it's a bit short. Basically, the belt straps are too long for my abdominal area, but the shoulder straps are a bit too short to fit the belt around my iliac crest where it's supposed to go. Oh, and the chest strap is too high. Still, I think I can take a needle and some thread to the belt strap to cinch it up a bit. So then I just have to figure out how to compress my sleeping bag into as small a roll as possible. Any suggestions?

Up UP and AWAY

That's right. We're back in space!

Thanks to some Canadian ingenuity (oddly enough) there's a sweet little camera the crew will be using to check over most of the shuttle for any damage. Then it's off to the ISS. There, the space station's crew will use another camera to check out the heat tiles as the shuttle crew performs a slow roll for them. Twelve or so days worth of checking and testing some diagnostic and repair stuff, then it's back home. Not a bad little return to flight. Good stuff.

So, yeah. huh?

Here's some action from today's press breifing:

Q Last Thursday the White House threatened to veto the defense bill if it includes standards for the humane treatment of prisoners, drafted by Republican Senator John McCain. And also on Thursday the Pentagon refused to comply with a court order to release photos and videos of prisoner abuse in Iraq. Don't these documented cases of abuse suggest that the U.S. military should adopt higher standards for the humane treatment of prisoners?

MR. McCLELLAN: A couple things, and I appreciate the question. We did put out a position paper that is available for you to look at, talking about some of our concerns when it comes to the defense authorization bill that the Senate is moving forward on. We certainly would have concerns if there are amendments that some people seek that would interfere with the President's ability to effectively conduct the global war on terrorism. And there are some amendments that people have suggested that we believe might be unnecessary or duplicative. We want to make sure that there is nothing that restricts the President's authority to be able to do what he needs to do to protect the American people and prevent attacks from happening in the first place, and bring to justice those who seek to murder innocent civilians.

Now, in terms of issues relating to allegations of abuse of detainees, this administration has taken those allegations very seriously. That's why we have moved forward to hold people accountable, and we have made sure that justice is served to those who were involved in any wrongdoing. But there are laws and treaty obligations that are in place and that we follow. And the Department of Defense has made it very clear that when it comes to detainees, that they treat them in a humane fashion. And that's consistent --

Q But they're not being treated humanely.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- with what our laws and obligations call for.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong here, but is he saying that the President can't be expected to follow laws when prosecuting the global war on terrorism? Is he saying that America can do whatever it wishes anywhere it wishes in the name of defense? That's what it sounds like to me.

And if that's so, anyone have any guesses about why we're stuck in a war against people with an "ideology of fear, chaos, violence and hatred?"

And much love was had by all. The Finally

See, if I would have posted at all this weekend, I'd have been done with the whole wedding review. But I didn't, so I'm not, instead reading Harry Potter. Good stuff.

So here's a skinny recap of the honeymoon.

We stayed at the Black Walnut Guest House, a nice little B&B in Sturgeon Bay. Very clean little place in a quite neighborhood within walking distance of the tourist traps there. We had a two person hot tub, private balcony and quaint little room. Best of all, we had a mirror above the hot tub. No need to go into that, though. ;)

Had a brilliant dinner at America's Fish House on Sunday night. Wendy had salmon, I had rainbow trout with blueberries, cashews and apple splinters. Great food. Nice view of the channel and draw bridge. Service was a little slow for my tastes, but that's probably the nature of the area. I thought the service at the Pudgy Seagull Monday during lunch was a tad turtly, too. *shrug*

Spent Monday doing tourist crap. Shopped a bit, then headed up one side of the thumb to the northernmost point before heading back on the other side of the peninsula. Spent Monday night in the hotel room with pizza and books.

Tuesday saw more shopping before heading home. There's a pretty cool little shop in Egg Harbor called Himalayan Expressions. Prem Lama is the dude that runs it. He's a pretty cool guy. We spent a bit of time talking to him about random shit. There's a nice flag shop there in Egg Harbor, too. Couldn't tell if the proprietors were gay or brothers. Doesn't matter, they gave us free shit.

All around, it was a really relaxing few days after the chaos of the wedding. We're planning on heading back to Door County in the spring for a cherry tour. That's when they blossom, and since the fuckers are everywhere, it should be very pretty. There's a tentative plan to get some other peops together to fill up the Black Walnut, too. There's about a hundred other B&B's that looked fun to stay at, too, not to mention the cabins on the lake that are cheap to rent for a week if you bring a few people with you. Overall, Door County, WI is a really nice place that I recommend to anyone that wants a few relaxing days away from it all. Seriously, I saw very little in the way of corporate anything, other than a few gas stations. Everything else is either made locally, generic, or had the branding removed. Good stuff in my book.

One Woman, Unconventionally, Forever. Pt 4

I'm trying to remember what I did Saturday morning before the boys arrived. I remember Wendy and I lounged in bed until she had to head out for the hair appointment and I had a LOT of time to kill before 1:30. Oh yeah, I started laundry (which apparently I did wrong, as the antique washing machine sat on spin cycle with NO water for hours), then called and had my stepdad come get me.

I went to lunch with Mom, Dale, Justin, Bobby and Morris (the latter two being Dale's stepmom and Dad respectively). We ate at the Machine Shed, which was damn good. Nerves were a little off, of course, so I didn't eat as much of the great fucking salad as I wanted to. Of course, mom kept stuffing chicken liver on my plate, so that accounted for a bit of it. Good liver, too. After that, back to the house to get ready.

I arrived home shortly before the dudes to find hair and make-uped chics everywhere. Good stuff. Then the dudes pulled in, Stephanie hit Country's hair and the chics headed out. Boys stripped to our underthreads, took some photos and generally figured out how tuxedos worked. Major props to both John and Big Country, for without their help, Jessica, Lynn or some other lady with an eye for detail would have had much straightening to do. Instead, we overcame then headed south for heat and honeys.

3pm saw us at the Paine, but unable to enter because the ceremony before us had run over. We blazed on in anyway, cause I'd paid a lot for that shit. Later, our photos got cut off before our ceremony because Claire wanted this other party to get photos where we were at. In fact, I'm told that 45 minutes before our ceremony started, this other group was STILL in the way. Had I known that, when Claire showed up to ask us to move on, I would have given her shit. As it was, we just moved on.

1.5 hours of photos in the sun and we were set for the wedding. The ceremony has been described as unusual, beautiful, unique, fitting, and all around excellent, so I guess it went well. ;) Hot as fuck, though. Thought my feet were melting in the snakeskin shoes. Most importantly, we got hitched, and got many chuckles from the audience in the process.

We spent prolly another 1.5 hours taking photos afterwards, which pissed Claire off. Her boyfriend was waiting. Again, had I known this, much shit would have been flung. As it stood, I just ignored her enquiries into time and past on an "almost done" everytime she asked me specifically.

As it was, we got to the reception at straight up 7 when dinner was supposed to be served, so no mingling for us. Shortly into dinner, we learned Claire had NOT given the bag of photos to the photographer as she said she would. Much pissed about that. But we moved on and the reception was a fricking blast. Danced for almost 4 hours, meaning we were all exhausted at the end. Great time, though.

So, lessee. The ONLY reason I'd recommend the Paine to anyone for a ceremony is because of the AWESOME pictures we got from it. That recommendation comes with this warning: Stand your ground. Get what you paid for, and remind any of Jessica's assistants that YOU are the boss. She's just a steward. Jessica herself was great, and the apologetic message we got from her makes it more so. Her help, though....

Big hits of the night were Wendy's grandma Werdin, Nick with the old ladies, Joe and his unique style of dancing, Braxton's energy, our odd mix of music, and I personally loved the DJ sending every song request to me then telling me I didn't have to OK it when I OKed it with him.

All in all, a great wedding. I, of course, had much more to say, but constant interruptions by people with minor cuts and scrapes in the ER has driven most of that from my head.

Tune in next time for To Your Left, Cherry Trees or You Do Realize There's a Mirror Above the Hot Tub, Right?

The Eve of Doom, pt 3

Friday. The day before the jazz fest. The rehearsal. The rehearsal dinner. We figured if anything bad on a parent level was going to happen, it'd be here, when chaos was the rule.

Consequently, Friday opened with Wendy sick in bed. Whether she'd drank too much Thursday (which isn't the case by her count), or was just nervous, dehydrated and exhausted, she'd slept little that night and was shaking like a leaf. Gatorade saved the day. We dumped her in her mom's bed, pumped her full of G-juice, surrounded her with cats, and generally brought her food when we remembered we valued her life. hehe.

A little before noon, she was filling a bit better, which was good, cause that's when people started showing up. We were having a sammich lunch in the park before the rehearsal. My whole family showed up, as did the boys from down south and Nick. Scratch that, I don't remember my Aunt Judy being there yet. I don't think ANYONE other than Wendy's mom was there for that. Katie and Anthony stayed in the house. Highlight of this shindig was Dale (stepdad) and Dad hooking up like best friends. That was a theme that lasted all weekend and was totally unexpected.

After this meal, we headed south to Oshkosh, with a quick stopover to get the marriage license. Our first taste of the heat to come was about all I remember of the rehearsal. Jessica, the Paine's wedding manager was efficient and Rosie, our officiate, kept it short, so we weren't too hot. At some point, we met Claire, Jessica's assistant, who turned out to be the cause of the only stress we had on Saturday. The guys thought she was hot, so I think for her penance, she needs to bag all three of the single Dogs. Not at the same time, though.

Actually, I thought shit was gonna start early, cause while milling about, Wendy's mom and dad started to get into it. Katie and Wendy cut em off quick, and a good speech from Wendy's mom to her dad during the rehearsal seemed to curtail anything at the dinner later. I still had to give Lynn some serious reassurances at the house a couple of times, but later she said that my pep talks and Don's family's acceptance of it all really smoothed her nerves a lot. Good stuff.

I can't remember much else I wanted to say about the rehearsal, so I'll move onto the dinner.

Grandpa started frying shit up well before the coals were ready, so fish and zucchini was ready LONG before beef and pork products. That upset mom a bit, cause the burgers and brats barely got touched. Didn't upset her enough to kill the party though, and the fish was damn good. Everyone that reads this heard this story all ready, but here it is again.

I told grandpa the fish was a big hit. He just smiled and said, "It always is, Brian. It always is."

Incidentally, it was crappie.

Don, Wendy's dad had a big hit with his home smoked salmon, too.

I would have loved to gnosh on it all, but only had a few bites of crappie and some fruit, cause I was pretty edgy. Pointlessly so, cause the whole even went off uber smooth.

Then, we passed out gifts. Well, after Wendy assured Christy that the entire group of bridesmaids and groomsmen weren't making fun of her. I know that's just the way she is, so I'll keep my thoughts to myself there. Wendy's already heard em, anyway. Back to the gifts.

Wendy got her girls jewelry, some of which I had to take the Dremel tool to. That's always fun. My boys, they got weapons. Katana/wakizashi/tanto set to match Joe's room. Footman's Pike to go on Nick's Bludgeoning/Spikey Wall of Pain. Halberd/spear for Boolah cause it combines with his height to give him insane reach. And a long fucking Scimitar for Country. Because, well, it was that or the stereotypical Claymore that was long enough to accommodate his height, much like Boolah's spear. Actually, I wanted to get him this huge frickin axe, but it cost more than the other three gifts combined, so my wallet fell short.

Unfortunately, after the presentation of gifts, everyone split. Twas barely 8, so I wish the party could have lasted longer.

I was hoping to hang with my dad & co, my mom & co, or the Boys after that, but duty called and we headed to Wendy's dad's. Met a crapload of his family that didn't make it to the dinner, few of which I'll remember, then Wendy's cousin Teddy brought out the mortars and we launched pro quality fireworks into the Appleton skyline until an adult told us to stop. Good times.

After that, home and to bed to prepare for the "big day." All in all, a great rehearsal dinner.

Tune in next time for What Is This Wedding Thing of Which You Speak? or Do What? For How Long? Eesh.....

The Party Continues. Pt 2

Thursday. The day of reckoning. The day that brought the most stress to me early in the week. The day of................

The Bachelor Party!

Thursday began exceptionally early when mi madre rolled into town at about 5am. I rolled out of bed to the tune of Wendy needing a shower and typical girly stuff, so I left her ass there and headed over to Perkins for breakfast with my fam. Don't even remember what I ate. Prolly the ole two egg combo.

Had some good conversations. Got some news on my sis, found out just how poor she's likely to be if neither her nor Tommy can get their heads out of their asses. Illustrated the difference between high maintenance women and good women to my bro using an analogy of BMWs and Jeep Wranglers. It flew over his head, as evidenced later in the weekend when passing a dealership, at which point he asked, "Hey Brian, are those the Jeeps you were talking about?" Good times.

Rolled home in time to get nabbed by the boys. We headed down to Wisconsin Dells to Mt. Olympus. That's the "Biggest Go-Kart and Waterslide Themepark in the World." I had a blast on the Helios track. I started out rocking on the "underwater" track, but rammed Boolah and got my throttle stuck at about 3/4 open. Joe loved the Medusa's Drop track. I did too, despite the go-kart theme of the day, which was, wait for it...........Shafe in a slow car. Seriously, at one point on an UPHILL stretch, Big Country and Nick passed me simultaneously on either side, with C-Dog giving me an "Is that all you got?" as he passed. At 120 pounds vs. the 180+ of everyone else, even poor driving doesn't account for being smoked in karts with restricted throttles. *shrug*

Regardless, had a good time in the karts and had even more fun on the water slides. Made me wish we'd spent more time in the water park, but we did that last and had to jet back to A-town. So, waterpark is the next big Non-convention Watchdogs event if I can swing it. As it stood, we got two good waterslide runs in, then hit the wave pool. That was a blast until I somehow (prolly a kid on a tube) drank a gallon of water on an inhale. In 8 feet of water. It was really strange keeping a clear, level head while my body kicked in the "Oh fuck, I'm drowning," response, but I finally made it around Joe, who couldn't tell I couldn't breath cause, well, I couldn't breath, and got outta the pool.

Then we sat around a bit waiting for someone to unlock Country's locker, cause the key prolly fell outta his pocket in the wave pool.

After that, back to A-town, which meant a nap for Nick (who'd been up all night driving) and myself. Not good naps, cause you never get one of those in a traveling vehicle, but naps nonetheless. Hit Appleton, grabbed tuxes and headed for food. Well, actually, the So Ill boys dropped Nick and I off to clean up a little bit, and here the story once again falls prey to miscommunication.

Apparently, on Wendesday when discussing restaurant options with Wendy and fam, Sai-Ram was recommended as great Indian food located next to Koreana the sushi restaurant. Since three people were speaking at the time, it evolved into Sai-Ram being great Indian food with a sushi bar. I hadn't mentioned sushi enough for the boys to recognize that as my quest for dinner, so when they hit Sai-Ram, they ordered up some grub. Things went downhill when Nick and I arrived to find no sushi available. This really pissed me off, because the frickin guy that I talked to when I called for directions assured me they had sushi. Still, the language barrier was obvious, and the employees/prolly owners were nice so I didn't want to cancel the guys order and uproot the whole group to find a sushi restaurant. We noticed Koreana's afterwards. Had we noticed it on the way in, I prolly would have ran next door on my own. *shrug* Regardless, the food was good, although I still don't really like Indian food much. Much to Wendy's disappointment.

From there, Nick, Boolah and I scored booze. We spent a little time in the motel room loving up the hot tub and alcohol and just bein' dudes. Someone mentioned a pillow fight, so we headed out for some titties. The Paradise Gentleman's Club turned out to be one of the most uninteresting places of its ilk I'd been to. That's my fault, because I picked it. Couldn't remember where Bean Snappers was. Nick got shafted on his lap dance because the girl went home, and most of the attention lavished on me came from a dancer that talked mostly about how cool her own wedding was. Despite, or because of, the guys constantly yelling out "He's the bachelor!" and depositing cash on various locations of my person.

Despite that, it was good fun. Boolah and Country decided someone needed to be the really drunk fuckers, and they filled in the role quite well. Quotes of the night stememd from both, including "We're in a Durango of lies," "Shut'p, the oxygen took a detour," and "There's no one I'd rather sit behind in my own truck than you, man."

Anything else that might have happened remains in the foggy depths of an alcohol laden brain. Or is being held in reserve for blackmail purposes later. ;)

However, Wendy's cool factor did shine once more. Apparently, one needn't actually be involved with crotch at all to leave with the aroma of crotch. A lesser (or more intelligent) man might have showered, but I didn't, operating on the assumption Wendy would suppose we'd hit the strip bar. Rather than flipping out and thinking I'd been screwing around, Wendy just dropped a "You smell musky, go to sleep," and that only after lieing around chatting about our respective evenings for almost an hour or so. Go super cool chic.

Welp, got an injured ankle here in the hospital so I better wrap this up. Tune in next time for Family Royale With Cheese or You Know That's Crappie, Right?

7 days, a ton of scratch, bachelor party, wedding, honeymoon, etc Pt One

Well, we're back, and what a hoo haa it was. I'll be breaking the tales into multiple parts with some attempt at chronology, but I'm sure I'll forget and remember it all at various times throughout.

First up is some mighty thanks to EVERYONE for driving an assload of miles, dealing with extreme heat, and just laughing in the face of wedding stress to bring about the best damn celebration ever by being sweet ass people, getting along with everyone, telling me what a good guy I am, throwing kick ass parties, enjoying kick ass parties, and finally (but totally unnessecary) giving kick ass gifts.

Let's begin.

We rolled into A-town at about 4am. Fun there. Ron made the trip over a bitch, cause he's the whiniest fucking cat I've seen in a car ever. Can't wait to hit the road with him on a trip more than 5 hours long.... Gotta have A/C for that.

I think we hit the hay at about 4:30 or 5ish, and rolled out of bed 2.5 hours later. Wednesday was a jumble of events, but we met with Jessica from the Paine, Rosie (our officiate), and had to get the marriage license. Unfortunately, the birth certificate I had was from the hospital, not the state. That left me frantically calling my mom to see if she could score me one before they left. She did, but that cut into her sleep, so much appreciation there. That was the first opportunity my mom and Dale (stepdad) had to shine this weekend. And she did.

Jump to Wednesday night after a quick nap and Wendy/Lynn taking care of reception shit. We hit Wendy's Dad's for some sweet ass cornish hen. Just before we head, though, my boys from Illinois call up to let me know they're in town. The plan is to hit Men's Warehouse after dinner to score tuxes. Some miscommunication had them thinking I was meeting them there, but me thinking I was grabbing them at the hotel. Trouble is, the hotel wasn't where I thought it was.

Four stops for bad directions later, and I roll into the pimped out Copperleaf to be ridiculed by the front desk person for asking what room they were in. I knew it was 205, but no answer at the door led me to the front desk to double check. Jack ass finally offered to call the room for me, which of course met with no answer. Boolah wasn't answering the cell phone, so I headed home in anger. Passed Wendy and Katie on the way as they were looking for me, but I didn't notice til too late to honk and they kept going.

Some cell phone calls with them later, and I was making a call to MW to see if the boys were still there. Salesperson said no, but then Boolah called and let me know they were still there. Too late for me to make it before they closed though, so I led the boys to Wendy's Mom's (our base) via cell phone.

A bit of hanging, some Texas Hold 'Em with nekkid lady cards and the boys were off to the hotel. I wrapped up a few other things and settled in for another 4-5 hours of sleep. Lack of sleep was a running theme. By Friday morning, Wendy and I had slept roughly 12 hours of since Tuesday. That left Wendy rather ill Friday, but once excitement started she picked up again, and we slept as much as possible after the wedding. Me? Give me something worthwhile to focus on, and I can go on cat naps like its luxury.

Highlights for Wednesday:

Seeing the Watchdogs
Great Cornish Hen Dinner
Last time I had to pay for anything until Sunday
Last time I had to drive anywhere until Friday
First of 20 days off for cool shit during the awesome End of Summer I've got going on

Tune in next time for Things I Shouldn't Say Online or A Dishonest Man Would Have Showered.

heading out

Just a quick note. We're heading out tonight for a little ole thing called My Wedding. It's Saturday, woot. Won't be back til next Wednesday after the honeymoon and what not. Hopefully I'll regale you with tales of fun stuff when I return. Hopefully, I'll have some progress on OGE's first title then, too. Probably, I'll just have stories of drunken excess and wanton sex. But that's good stuff, too.

7/11 white house news brief

Long article, but funny shit. The reporters tried to tear the guy up, but as usual, McClellan has a wall of no comment on that. Love this administration.

Yer shittin me? How do you spell 'stitches? This is a joke, right?

Man. That's the dumbest question I've been asked all week. And this is the 2nd busted nose in 45 minutes. Looks like it's gonna be ridiculously busy today. Bleh. Me no like.

So dig, there's a local business that I and my friends don't shop at because of poor service, high prices and other reasons. Turns out that some celebrities in that particular industry LOVE the store, though, which of course is serious marketing for them. Because these individuals are viewed as gods of their industry, the unthinking masses refuse to accept that any of the bad incidences we've experienced there actually happened. *sigh* I hate celebrity worship more than almost anything I think. Most especially when said "celebrities" are only famous in a niche market doing a very small business.

Here's two things about that. It seems the smaller the industry the more dedicated fans are in celebrity worship. Kind of funny, really.

But here's the worst part. Concerning the event that triggered my rant, of the two "celebs" supporting the store, I know of both and have talked to one a few times (prolly not enough for him to remember me, though). Both are great guys, really modest, really intelligent, and really accepting of other's opinions. So, while one guy that actually voiced in in the discussion said something along the lines of "it could happen, but it hasn't to me," his congregation refuses to acknowledge that....

*shrug*

People are dumb.

the countdown continues

9 calendar days left. 218 hours. That's how long til the wedding. Thing is, we've got lots of shit done. As far as I can tell, we've just gotta make some place cards for the reception, pay for some shit and get the damn reception lady to call us back. Unless Wendy's got a huge list she still needs to share with me......

Other than that, same shit, different day. Nick and I have decided to do his super camping trip on Labor Day weekend, which should be funky cool. Means I gotta drop some cash on gear, cause I'm set for car camping, but not for hiking/canoeing into Minnesota's Boundary Waters for 4 days. But, quite timely, I got some military surplus catalog in the mail, so you'll see me on the trail decked out in imported German military garb, complete with their funky "flectar" style desert camo. Love it. Yep. Cheaperthandirt.com and REI are getting a good chunk of my scratch in the next few weeks.

That makes the summer season a good one....wedding/honeymoon in July, Wizard World Chicago/vacation in August, camping in September. I's a busy man. I like it.

rumbly in my tummy

I picked up Hungry Little Monsters today. It's a nice little monstrous compendium for a good cause. Some good RPG pros and artists got together on this thing, and all proceeds go to FoodForAll.org Lots of monsters, $7, help the hungry. Good deal to me.

Product wise, a few of the baddies in it gave me some ideas for side adventures when we're prepping for bigger stuff. Yay. Always like that, as what I've got geared for the PCs is in no way gonna get them strong enough to fight the big bad evil guy at the end.... Art's solid, and there's even a few templates for tweaking out beasts of yer own. Not a bad buy for a DM that has a player or two that knows virtually every weakness of every potential villain in the original FOUR monster manuals. :)

Also grabbed Macbeth as a D&D adventure, but it'll be a looooong time before I use that, since it's really just a glorified stat book. Kind of a bummer, there.

Ten days left on the wedding front, and it's been too long since we made a log in the video diary. Better get on that, tonight I guess.....

Suede Bag

Lemme go read my post from Saturday...

OK. Gotta start the recap from Saturday morning. This'll be a long one.

After visitng the trifecta of technology that is Circuit City, Best Buy, and CompUSA with a list of gear and supplies I needed for the upcoming wedding and day-to-day shit, I hit Best Buy for a tripod, ink, and supercharger. Circuit City got my money on the digital camera front.

I landed a Nikon Coolpix 4600. Thing turned out to be the best purchase I've made in quite sometime (for 200 clams it better be). Fits in my palm. 4 megapixel wonder, with more photo settings than you can shake a stick at. Really clear photos on the screen. I'll import them to my compy tonight for that test. I can get over 500 photos on the 512 meg card I bought for it, which rocks.

Stopped by Wendy's and showed her my new gadget then headed to the eye doctor. They couldn't get me in until next Saturday, which blows, cause I want glasses before the wedding. Might call em back and try for tomorrow this afternoon.

Headed to Joe's Crabshack to see Nick, and he was about to get off way early, so I hung with him the rest of the afternoon. Good times.

D&D saw Zeke being sent on an Outriders patrol instead of going to the funeral. I spent a lot of time describing the setting outside of Myrrhlanthus, and I think everyone has a decent idea of the environment, now (although I didn't mention temperature/weather much). Side note to players:any questions on setting, let me know.

The funeral trip saw Levvy and Gregorious a bit sea sick for a few days, while Crenius was unaffected. A raucous party ensued after Levvy's brother was passed to the priest's ship for the trip to the halfling homeland. Much drinking was had by all. Late the next day, the ship came upon a damaged and barely afloat vessel that the crew decided to pillage, which of course the PCs stepped up to do.

The ship was full of vermin, et al (but the PCs only encountered vermin), which managed to kick the shit out of the party. Four encounters later and Gregorious was carrying Levvy's unconcsious body while Crenius limped/ran to the escape dinghy. Unfortunately, Crenius had left ALL of his weapons aboard the clunker and burned up all of his scrolls and other offensive gear. On top of that, he was quickly paralyzed by all of the venom he'd taken in from wounds.

Fortunately, a halfling cleric had stayed on board and was able to help the characters almost fully recover on the remainder of the trip, despite the huge gale the ship encountered on the way back.

Once back in Crocus, the group set about restocking supplies and the like, but Wendy got tired before they could get back to Myrrhlanthus.

Sunday saw Wendy and I tired as shit, so NONE of the stuff I wanted to get done on Sunday happened. Except the camping. We left about 5 and hit Duluth a little before 8. Started fishing almost right away and I scored a huge walleye by my standards, but tiny according to Nick.

Made a Perkins run, rocked some more, and hit the hay at 2am. 6am Monday mornign I woke up in the tent and couldn't get back to sleep, but stayed in "bed" til a little after 7:30. Fished the river some more, had pancakes/bacon on the fire pit, and hung til 10:30 when we learned Katie and Anthony hadn't even left the cities yet *(we were waiting on them until we started the real partying)*. At that point, we jetted over to Hunter's Lake for some more fishing. Wendy even scored a bluegill here. Good times.

Bout the time K and A shoulda been rolling in, we headed back to Nick's aunt's, scrounged food and waited for more partying. Did some canoeing, fishing and hanging with Katie and Anthony before heading into Duluth for fireworks.

Ate at the Brewhouse, which is a microbrewery with its own restaurant. Flaky waitress, great rootbeer, and decent food. Then we met up with Matt and family for the fireworks. Great stuff.

Highlights of the weekend include:

Fish caught - 10" walleye, 12" largemouth, perch (the smallest of which was 1.5" long), pumpikinseed, bluegill (and Nick caught a 14" northern pike)
Photos of fireworks taken - 150.
kept - over 100.
Best bathing moment - Wendy in the river at 7am. (all voluntary, too)
Most inappropriate clothing - Katie's little white skirt and huge heeled shoes (although Daurie's inability to stay warm at temperatures of 75+ was baffling).

I'm sure I'll remember and post more specific moments as time passes.

heavy D and the weekend

Not sure how much time I'm gonna have to post this weekend, so here's a taste of things to come.

Today is going to be filled with stocking up on gadgets for the weekend. The camcorder is charging, as Wendy and I decided to do a 14 day video countdown, which, if I'm on top of my game, I'd like to try to cut into a DVD and send out with some of the thank you cards. Just to the really important people, unless I stumble into a lot of spare cash.

On top of that, I need to pick up a digital camera (finally), a memory card for that boy, a new memory card for my MP3 player (steer clear of PNY. I've had more trouble with my PNY card than anything. Peice of Shit, and it compeletely crapped on me Thursday), and a fresh load of rechargeables, plus possibly a high speed charger. Then, if that doesn't break the bank, eye doctor for new glasses. Now, that might seem like a mix of priorities, but the glasses I have are fine. I see fine with them. Mostly, the desire for new glasses is a mix of no eye exam for a few years and just a desire for some style change....

Then, off to Joe's to BS with Nick during his bar shift and introduce a new character to the Ichian Outpost Arcana #7. Plus, I still gotta decide whether Zeke comes as a henchman for Crenius or whether he gets sent on patrol.

After that, back here to read up on tonight's adventure and get ready for some role playing this evening. Should be fun, Nick's making chilli.

Tomorrow is packing and *hopefully* washing my car inside and out. As soon as Nick gets off work, we're heading north to Duluth. Monday we're camping/canoeing/fishing/swimming/making our own fireworks display and watching the pro show up there. Hopefully we get some more D&D at the end of the night. If Nick's still not ready to run an adventure, I could run an 8th level module I just got for playtesting for a new company hitting the market. I'd link to em, but I guess the website isn't up. The Non-Disclosure Agreements we have to sign mean I won't be posting that RPG night in the ole bloggio, but I'll still let you know if the title's worth picking up....

Whoo. Should be fun.

Nucular

Fuckers. I saw it coming when they made the deal. Just let these three judges through, and we'll drop the thought of changing the filibuster rules completely. That's what the Repubs said. The Dems, of course, said yeah. Stuck to it, too.

Then Justice O'Connor announces her retirement.

Granted, Bush did seek counsel from two leading Dems on his appointment, but that doesn't mean he'll listen to it. Look at poor Colin Powell. Have to see.

Regardless, Repubs have in the Senate have already announced, whomever the Prez appoints will be through the Senate an in the Supreme Court by October 1st, EVEN IF THEY HAVE TO CHANGE THE RULES ON THE SPOT.

My question is, when did we elect morons? I mean besides the very top tier. Seriously, let's think about this. You make a deal. The other side sticks to the deal, then you stab em in the back at the most important moment. Now, if I was on the other side, I would NEVER EVER make another deal with you in my life. EVER. I wouldn't even loan you a nickle for some damn fries or coffee. Now, that might make much difference now, with Repubs in control of the House and Senate, but November's coming up fast. That could change. In four months, we could hang Congress by voting in a balanced government, and suddenly, all those people stinging from that back stab flat out refuse to cooperate with the people holding the knife. Then, next year, we look at the incompetance of the Repubs to work with the Dems and vote em out. Now the Dems are back in control, when what we really need is BALANCE. And the pendelum continues to swing in ever more retarded lengths as each side tries to one up the other in gaining control... foolish.

How bout we stop swinging around the Bible and September 11th and start governing based on common sense, intelligence, and maturity? Really. What did Jesus teach? Tolerance. Where's that at? When our elected officials going to reach across "the aisle" and shake their opponents hand, respecting them as God's creatures should respect each other? I'm pretty sure THAT'S the religious values the country was founded on....