Origins Convention

This weekend I'll be at Origins Game Convention in Columbus, OH. I leave thou tonight for a world of Cards, Dice, Miniatures, Dragons (the fire breathing kind, not the Sadin Channeling kind), and Geeks. Monday, I will return for a boatload of stories, news, and Game realted Gossip. Until then, I bid thee farwell!

Time to roll the Dice... quite literally in many cases...

www.originsgames.com

First of All... I met with, and played Magic the Gathering With... Richard Garfield. Yeah, Him. For those of thou who don't know who he his, this is like discussing WoT plot points and character development with Robert Jordan. (Maybe some of thou will get to do that at DragonCon ) Anyway, he was playing with some playtest cards that he probably just made up the night before; they were written on MTG blanks. an interesting dice rolling mechanic where most numbers are determined by a d6. 1=1, 2=2, 3=3, 4, 5, and 6=0. Lots of fun.
He also brought his 7 year old daughter along as well. She is absolutly adorable! I guess it was sort of a Father/Daughter outing. "Honey, thou know that card game Daddy made? how'd thou like to check out the freakshow of geeks who play it? C'mon! I'll buy thou a plush Cuthulu doll!"
As for MTG tournaments, I played several of the most interesting games ever, but I'll leave out the boring details. I lost a Sealed deck pretty bad, but me and two friends placed 6th in a team format (Emporer, for those of thou who know what that means).
The exhibit hall was interesting. I played a demo of a board game called Attack Vector: Tactical where thou used spherical trigonmetry to hunt down other players in thour space ship and blow them out of heavens. Thankfully the math is whittled down to charts and formulas, and all that's left is a hex grid with a few pieces on it, and a taste for tatics. http://www.adastragames.com/products/adastra/av.html

The Hotel we stayed in was an interesting matter, but we'll save that for another post, because i have to get some sleep. later all!

The Hotel... Ramada Ltd. North.

Pro: $32.85 per night for a room with 2 beds.
Con: It looks and feels like about $33/night.
Housekeeping was half-assed, with the shower curtain growing some mildew, the hallways had the Office-Cubicle type florescent light fixtures, and the carpet (outside the room still) looked liked it hadn't been cleaned in ages. One night we returned to the room and we saw cryptic instructions written in Spanish on our phone message pad. I guess someone was giving the immigrant-housekeeper instructions with the Spanish he picked up from Taco-Bell commercials.

Con: Continental breakfast more like Continental leftovers from previous morning.
Once again, I probably shouldn't complain due to the price of the room, but if thou weren't down there by 9:00, thou most likely wouldn't get even a danish. I guess they don't often have this many people at the Hotel so they stock about 1/2 as much as they should. Fortunately, this was no big deal because...

Pro: 30 yards away... WAFFLE HOUSE!
I'm pretty sure the Waffle House is some famous/semi-famous chain in the US. I wouldn't know because they are strangely absent from my area. Same thing with IHOPs. Pittsburgh just doesn't have them. This is where we ate every night and every morning. thou'll not find better hash-browns than at this place. they make a darn good omelet, too. Eat a big meal for under $10, including tip.

Also as a note of interest there was a strip club also within walking distance. It was sort of diagonal from both the Hotel and the Waffle House (The Gold Fox). Also the type of bar this was... how do i be politically correct about this?... this place appealed to a certain demographic. The parking lot was full of Bentleys and Impalas. Quite gangsta. Apparently, when the ladies are done with their shift, they gotta eat something too, and the clientele follow them over there too.

So, it's 3:30 AM, and me and one other friend are in this waffle house waiting for a seat, looking at all the people. The women with clothes that were obviously designed to be removed and replaced at a moment's notice, paying for their meal with dollar bills that were probably stuffed down their g-strings maybe an hour ago. The men, dressed in nondescript attire, probably hoping to offer the ladies a ride home. There were also two cops on duty, to keep trouble from bubbling up. Apparently, this is a regular beat for these guys. "Want to see something funny?" an officer told us sarcastically just before he walked over with his partner to escort out a rabble rouser. Oh, yeah!! Serve and Protect!!

Fun and exciting weekend for all!

BeastMasterJ

Geaga Lake & Wild Water Kingdom

This past weekend was a full one for my little family. Friday, My Fiance (Neal) and I took our 3 kids to Geaga Lake formerly Six Flags Ohio formerly Geaga Lake! (It lasted as Six Flags for about 4 years then went back to it's original name after they were bought by the people who own Cedar Point). It was a nearly empty park, which was great! We didn't ride many big rides because Zion is still too short, but we did ride a couple. X-flight is an awesome roller coaster that thou ride laying down. They take thou up the hill and then flip thou over so thou're looking at the ground the entire time. THAT was fun!! Matter of fact, it was the only fun I had on that side of the park.
We also used to have a Sea World. It was right across the lake from Geaga Lake. Six Flags bought it and kicked Shamu out to make it a water park, (I'm still very disappointed by that turn of events. I miss Sea World) hence the Wild Water Kingdom. Now the water park was awesome. There's something for everyone. The coolest ride was a giant funnel and thou climbed up real high to board a raft (4 can ride together) and be launched out of a tube that ends high on the right side of this giant funnel that's laying on it's side. Anyway, thou go up one side and down the other, back and forth, until thou finally slide out of the end of the funnel. IT WAS GREAT!!! They also had a wonderful children's area where my 3 year old felt like King of the world. There were several shallow twisty water slides that he could ride all by himself and I had a blast just watching!!

Helike

How does that old man get around so well?

Trip to Raglan Castle

As part of my holiday in Tewksbury (08/08/05 – 14/08/05)
August 10th 2005
Visit lasted 2 and ½ hours.


I had never heard of Raglan Castle but I am always interested in seeing what remains of Britain’s glorious part, of a time when our influence could be felt across most of the known world.

What I did discover was an incredible castle that is unlike any other in the country. The oldest part of the castle is the Great Tower and apron wall, the building of these was started in 1465 for Sir William ap Thomas. Sir William was a veteran campaigner of wars in France and much of what he saw in castle design was introduced into Raglan. The hexagonal construction of the Great Tower and the draw bridge mechanism can only find equals in France; there is no other from the same time frame in the country that is designed like Raglan.

Surrounding the apron wall is the moat and the moat walk. I was delighted to see that the moat had water in it. Most moats have long since dried up, but Raglan’s was alive and well and full of fish!

Raglan itself was built upon by many different owners throughout the ages and turned from not just a strong bastion but into an elegant and luxurious fortified manor.

I’m not going to go through all its history but in its time a Great Gatehouse was added with stone bridge leading up through that intimidating gateway. But also added was a great feasting hall, fountain courts, intricate stonework chapel, gallery walkways where within the Elizabethan period it was popular to promenade along with choice company showing them the portraits of thour ancestors.

In 1646 the castle died when the Earl of Worcester surrendered and roundhead troops took possession of the castle. As was the policy the castle was deliberately damaged to make sure it wasn’t hospitable anymore and that it could not be used for defence. The roundheads simply didn’t have enough troops to occupy each castle and they wouldn’t let another army occupy it. Two walls from the Great Tower were destroyed.

By 1767 the broken castle had been looted of everything, including wood which was a precious commodity and was left a shell. At this time the owner was the Duke of Beaufort and it stayed with the family until 1938 where it was given to Commissioners of HM Works who did repairs to make it safe for public viewing.

Favourite Part of the Trip

The Great Tower is fantastic and to see a moat was more than I was expecting


There are come rooms with exhibits in of items unearthed in the ruins.

Conclusion

If thou enjoy history and thou like walking through ruins then Raglan is an exceptional one. (It’s only a few miles from Corki too so he should go at least). This is an extensive castle ruin and is on parallel with Kenilworth Castle which is supposedly the largest ruin in the country.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a206/idennis/MoreStonework.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a206/idennis/MoatBridge.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a206/idennis/GreatTower.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a206/idennis/StairstoMoat.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a206/idennis/RaglanMoat.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a206/idennis/FancyStonework.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a206/idennis/CurtainWall.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a206/idennis/Raglan1.jpg

Mallet

Cannis Goes Country!

OK so I went on vacation/holiday on 17june05 through 24june05. Here is the basic break down of events.

17June05- So last night we got in and went checked into our cabin. The Cabin is cool it has a pool table, air hockey table and Dart board. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 pullouts a wrap around deck and a hot tub. So more than enough room form Me amanda(my wife) keefer and Nancy (mother and father inlaw) Wanda and Waren (brother and sister inlaw) and Jesse(8) James(12) Amber(13) Woody(15) my Nieces and Nephews.

So they're great and I love to spend time with them. So we spent the first part of the day Tubing. (riding in a little raft down a river) We went down the Pigeon River. IT was very fun with lots of rapids. Then I lost my wedding ring in the rapids and was very happy I had insurance.

That afternoon we went to see the Tenn Smokies play Baseball. It was a great game very close. They were both very evenly matched. It was also Starwars night so there were all these ppl walking around dressed in full Storm trooper gear. They looked like they had walked right out of the movie. They also had a remote controll life sized R2D2. And the Capper to it all they Let Darth Vader throw out the first pitch. It was so campy and hokey that it rocked.

18June05- So its Saturday and my finger feels naked. (really missing the ring) So we got up early and went to do the Go Carts. Tons of fun. I rode double with my niece Jesse as she was to small to ride by her self. (she was born premature) So we wore every on out because we were in a doubles go cart and are weight combined didn't really weight it down much so we flew around the tracks lapping most ppl. After wards we went to the pool and well were lazy. That night we went to the Comedy Barn... Yea were in the south! So it was cute the kids really liked it and I was glad to take the kids to something live.

19June05- ok not much to say about today we checked out of our cabin and walked around till they all left. Then me and my wife went home and prepared to go to Nashville

20June05- So we are not leaving for Nashville till tomorrow so me and my wife rented a few movies and veged on the couch... I got board so I went to the batting cage.

21June05-23
0ff to Nashville so we did the Country music hall of fame. very neat! They had Elvis's cars and Chet's Guitars. Over all very fun. We ate at the fast food places because FOOD IN NASHVILLE IS RIDICULOUS EXPENSIVE!!!! that is no lie. We went to one restaurant and they had burgers for $6.00 not bad right. Well that doesn't include fries ($4.00) and a drink ($2.00) so the total $12.00 for a burger. Yea a burger nothing on it just bread and meat. The fixin's were extra too!!! and that was just the start. the next place we tried to go to was worse their cheapest plate was $20.00 for a grilled 6oz chicken breast!!!! WITH RICE!!!! AND NO DRINK!!!!

WHAT THE FIZZEL????????

So we ate and the usual McD's and burger king. Though they had their prices jacked up as well it wasn't as bad. So we shopped and went to This park that had the a Roman Parthenon(?) rebuilt on the grounds it was neat and all but there were all these ppl getting pictures taken professionally around it for like weddings and stuff we couldn't really just walk around and look with out getting blasted at by some photographer. and that sums it up.

The best part of my trip?...... Spending 7 days with my wife with out any interruptions. Made it a great vacation!

By Magnus Canis Rufus

Kuwait

1. The people there love visitors. They treat thou with a great amount of kindness and I even had a couple of offers to go to dinner at personal residences.

2. Kuwait City is a major metropolitan area, almost as nice as LA or NYC. There are shopping malls, Restaraunts, clubs, and other entertainment venues

3. A must see for any one that has the opportunity to go there is CNN bridge. It is an example of the chaos and damage that was caused because of the Iriqi occupation.

4. One of the things that I enjoyed the most was just driving around and seeing the amazing architechture, some of it hundreds of years old.

5. Hooka bars. These things are great, especially if thou are a smoker (and by that I mean the legal kind), and I am stoked that they are catching on here in the States.
Basicly thou order dinner (generally Arabian food of verying types to please anyone's pallet), and after dinner thou order a Hooka and an Arabian coffee. For a coffee drinker and smoker as hardcore as I am, this was about as close to heaven as thou can get. The arabian coffee was very similar to espresso, but did not have the bitter flavor. The Hooka, filled with the smoothest tabacco I have EVER smoked, is lightly flavored with almost any concievable fruit or candy thou can think of. like I said. Heaven.

The only real draw back to being in Kuwait when I was (Other than I was there just incase shooting started again.) Was that it is a dry country. Thats right kiddies, no booze. At all. Ever.
But, don't despair my bandy chugging compatriots, Bahrain is only a 30 min flight that goes back and forth at least 8 times a day. And thou are more than able to drink thourself stupid there.

All in all, I would suggest Kuwait as a vacation destination, (If thou don't mind the no drinking thing, oh, and 135 degree days in the summer).

StaffMaster