Dreaming of a White Christmas

Well, not really. White usually means cold, and after 30+ years of that, I'm QUITE enjoying brown but warm winters. Although I hear it's been pretty mild in Saskatchewan right now. Considering it might get down to freezing here this Friday, it might actually be warmer in Saskatchewan than it is in California! Perfect time for a visit!

If you'd like to meet up with me while I'm in Regina/S'toon, send me message and we'll make plans to meet up. Cheers!

Misheard Song Lyrics

So we were coming back from the grocey store today (in short sleeves - beautiful warm sunny day!) when the old "Godzilla" song came on. Amy asked who sang it, and for the life of me I couldn't remember. While looking up the answer on Google (it was the Blue Oyster Cult), I came across this collection of misheard song lyrics:

http://www.amiright.com/misheard

Some are brilliant!

Teatro ZinZanni

We had our launch party at Teatro ZinZanni on Saturday. It was quite the entertaining show, a dinner theatre with acrobats, opera singers, and comedy. Very cool stuff.


They graffittied us!

Happy Halloween!

Unsurprisingly, we celebrated Halloween at the office. A costume pic and our pumpkin carving contest.


SCIENCE!!!


Pumpkin Apocalypse!

The Importance of Good Writing

Funny story; one of the guys I worked with is good with numbers, but isn't the greatest with words. He went on a blind date once and followed up with an email to her saying, "I had a great time, and would like to give you a call on Wednesday." Innocent enough, no?

Unfortunately for him, because of his bad spelling/grammar he had an auto-spellcheck in his email. He had actually written, "I had a great time, and would like to give you acall on Wednesday.", (missing the space between 'a' and 'call'). The auto-spellcheck interpreted "acall" to be "anal"...

Needless to say, there was no second date! :-)

Summer Picnic

We had our company summer picnic at Vasona Park last Sunday. Man, it was such a great day! Blue skies, warm (not hot) weather. BBQ and drinks, free swag, sports (including bocci!). Best part: it was freakin' October! I've been getting emails from friends back in S'toon and talking with family about "freezing rain!" and "4 inches of snow". Damn... California is pretty awesome! :-)

They Fight Crime!

Hehe...

"He's a fast talking hunchbacked werewolf whom everyone believes is mad. She's a green-fingered Bolivian hooker who believes she is the reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian queen. They fight crime!"

They Fight Crime!

NorCal Renfaire

We went to the NorCal Renfaire this past weekend, and got to check out another of the cool events going on in the area. Like events we attended in the past, we went in with Saskatchewan-level expectations, and got a California-level reception! We spent quite a full day there, and were quite entertained!


Tribal dancer


Flower wreaths by performance stage


A stern Queen Lizzie


Knights preparing to joust



Squire guiding knight to joust


Morris dancers!


Yarrr! 'Tis pirate theme weekend!


Queen's court in session

GenCon Indy 2005

Another year, another GenCon! I thought by now it'd start getting old, but it's still a LOT of fun! Trying new games, meeting old friends - all-in-all a great time!

GWG/PEG
It was great to see a lot of the fellow writers and friends from GWG/PEG, including Joe & Jackie, Clint & Jodi, Dave Ross, Rob Lusk, Andy Hopp, and some new faces as well.


Joe and Jackie at the COOL Axis & Allies set


Clint playing in Rob Lusk's AWESOME Sticks & Stones game!

NCSoft Seminar
While I wasn't there with work, I did stop by one of the seminars which discussed designing a game universe across multiple types of media. Here we have the panel consisting of the fellows from Eden Studios (CoH RPG), Cryptic Studios (CoH) and AEG (CoH CCG).


Co-workers: Jack (3rd), Shane (4th) and Zeb (6th)

City of Villains LARP
While I didn't play, I did stop by to take a look. People seemed to be having a blast!


T.V. Head = The Lost, of course!


Negotiations between Dr. Vahz and Bill Gates


Martial arts villain

Other Cool Stuff
Oh yes - every year they have Cardhalla, a massive display of card sculptures made from discarded CCGs. People can just show up and build what they want! At they end, everyone lines up with their coins and destroys everything - and the coins are then collected for charity! Neat stuff!


Cardhalla

Cool Costumes!
Of course, we can't forget the costumes. Some cool, some strange, some just... wow!


She's here every year!


She gave me candy!


Helloooo, nurse!


Obligatory Star Wars costumes


They're so darn cute!


Hey Drizzt! Where're your swords?


Not much left to imagination...


L5R coolness!

Every gamer should attend GenCon at least once in their lifetime. It's like the Mecca of gaming! Maybe start planning for 2006 now? :-)

Muir Woods

When Chris & Suzi were visiting we took a trip up to San Francisco and Muir Woods. We spent the day hiking around the woods and ended with a nice supper in SF at a great dockside restaurant.


En Route via Golden Gate Bridge


Presenting... Muir Woods!


Thick Foliage


Redwood Hollow


Knotty Wood!


Chris and I at Ocean View


Walkway through Muir Woods


Friendly Banana Slug

Old Gamers

Here's a testimony to that fact we are old gamers - we have dice which are older than some of our friends!


These dice have a few years on Rilla!

A Tour of the City

San Francisco is a great place to visit. Lots to see and do everytime you go! During Ben & Rilla's visit we took a journey back and forth across the city (people in the South Bay call SF 'the city' even though San Jose is much bigger in this century).


Sea lions on Pier 39


Ben, Rilla, and Amy in front of Alcatraz


A typical SF cable car


Ben and Rilla on the cable car

Vista Point

On the way back from SF after a game of Savage Deadlands,we stopped by a "Vista Point" and caught a scenic view at sunset as the sea fog rolled over the hills and forests. Some pics below:


The fog rolls in...


Bloody Tourists!

Gilroy Garlic Festival

Ah, the greatness that is Gilroy, and the marvel that is its annual garlic festival. We were NOT expecting the sheer size (or expense) of the event, which involved parking our car in a HUGE field and bussing out to the place. It was quite a spectacle, with three stages, food and craft vendors... I had no idea that it was such a big deal! Below are a few pictures from the festival:


Ben, me, Amy and Rilla with the The Garlic Mascot


The Lovely Ladies of Garlic! (and me)

More to follow!

Yachting on San Francisco Bay

Yarrrrr!


Alcatraz

Last Saturday we had the good fortune of being invited by friends in San Francisco for a trip around the Bay on their yacht! The weather was gorgeous, the company was great, and we got to see a lot of cool sites from the Bay, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and a sailboat race! All-in-all, a very cool day! :-)

The Great Outdoors

We had quite the busy weekend, strangely enough in the great outdoors. I say strangely because I'm not one to normally enjoy frolicking about in nature. I've said it many times, "I spent most of my life getting out of the bush (the farm), so I'm not too eager to go back!" Then again, maybe it's the Saskatchewanian in me still thinking: "It's a nice day - I must go out to enjoy it!"

On Saturday we took a trip with a couple of Amy's friends up to the Yuba River, a really beautiful spot northeast of San Francisco. There we found a small river beach where a warm mountain stream broke through the hills. The water was clear, small fish swam about in the water, and we even found gold flakes in the water - I guess that's why they call California "the Golden State"! Oh, and there were a lot of nekkid people there skinny-dipping - apparently the spot is quite popular with a lot of the California hippy population!


Rio Del Mar Beach

On Sunday we went to Rio Del Mar Beach, just outside of Santa Cruz. We were there with a bunch of people from one of the local gaming stores we had made friends with, and a good time was had by all. We had lots of fun swimming in the ocean and talking around the campfire. I even learned how to body surf on a boogie board! That is truly something I never thought I'd make time to do in my lifetime, but circumstances have changed a lot in the past year!

Hard at Work

Many apologies for going such a long time without updating, but it's been REAL busy at work. We've got a LOT to get done before the release date, so there's going to be a lot of late work nights.

Not that I'm complaining! It's been great, and I hope people will enjoy some of the cool things we've come up with. I can't go into details due to NDA, but I'll just say there's lots of cool tricks up our sleeves! :-)

Viva Las Vegas!

Amy and I just got back from a weekend trip to Las Vegas, Nevada! It was a celebration event for our company, so they covered the trip, hotel, banquet and a show on Saturday night! I have to say, it's GREAT being part of a company which takes care of its employees!

We arrived in Las Vegas on Friday night around supper, when we dumped our bags off at the Luxor. If you don't know, the Luxor is an Egyptian-themed hotel in the shape of a pyramid, and instead of elevators has 'inclinators' since they travel inside up the incline of the pyramid! Pretty amazing stuff.


Statues at the Luxor

After we left our bags with the concierge we rushed over to the MGM Grand to watch the performance of the latest from Cirque du Soleil: KÀ! The tickets were a bit pricey, but then again, I didn't know what to expect. It was simply amazing, and worth every penny! I think what impressed me most was the sheer amount of mechanical engineering which went into the performance. The stage itself was one HUGE slab on an arm which allowed it to revolve, incline, and even go completely vertical! And something to keep in mind - the actors will still acting on it when this was happening! Wow... just... wow!

We spent the rest of Friday night and most of Saturday afternoon socializing, running around on a scavenger hunt, and generally enjoying the sights. We managed to drop by the Hilton and get our geek on with The Star Trek Experience, which included lunch at Quark's Bar and Restaurant, the Star Trek timeline museum, the 'Borg Invasion 4D' and 'the Klingon Encounter'. Lot's of good, sci-fi fun!


YMCA with a Klingon

Klingon Weaponry and Outfits at the Star Trek Museum

Saturday night we got together for a banquet and speeches, then proceeded to the highly entertaining Blue Man Group. Very humourous, entertaining, and interactive!


Our Scavenger Hunt Team!


Lou in Vegas Gear!

All-in-all, it was a great weekend! We actually hope to go back again to see more of the sights and shows of Vegas one of these weekends. It's actually a cheap flight from San Jose, so we'll seriously consider doing it again some time!