Merch
Hello Spring, Hello LJ.
I was a bit surprised once the 20th of the month hit, then realized it had almost been another full month since I updated. But I'm like, "Nah, gotta do PAX first - at least I'll have something to report back on". The past month has been rather uneventful, or rather, it's been routine. I haven't had a lot of free time in the past week, so this post is going to be a bit unorganized. As a matter of fact, I'm just going to blend it together into a single paragraph:
At one point, Deb and I did some shopping with our year-old wedding giftcards and ended up with some pans for the kitchen. I caught a cold after battling some kind of allergic outbreak for three weeks and spent my first sick day of the year playing the new Tomb Raider game. One weekend, I made a few batches Chex Mix which I exchanged for an HP mini computer. At the same time, I was commissioned to convert some snowboarding photos to silhouette stickers on my vinyl plotter. I played with some open source sentry software and tinkered on the workbench with a parts gun I bought off a local airsoft player. I couldn't bring the gun back to life, and the sentry software isn't compatable with Windows XP, so both projects are delayed. I played airsoft once per week and checked out the Airsoft Factory with Dan Frasier from HVD, who I found out was a fellow airsofter. Deb and I went out to dinner a few times - Margaritas, Outback, Salsa's. We caught the new Oz movie at the Movie Tavern and enjoyed it. Shopped at Zern's, saw duckies. Made fried pickles.
Work's taken the front stage a bit as of recent, since Bill assigned me the job of getting all our standard practices into a single document. I've been having meetings with between our lab group and the investigations group to work on getting to common ground. I think it's impressed the boss a bit, but the stress did get to me in the form of a cold a few weeks back. I also had my year-end review on the 14th - once again, I'm not head of the class, but I got to sit near the front. I got my annual merit increase and bonus, so at least all that extra work in 2012 was rewarded. That money goes right into house savings, but I did set aside a portion of it to enjoy PAX East.
The end of the month was capped off with PAX East, the big video game convention of the year for the East Coast. This time around it was just me; I'm the big gamer in the house, so Deb stayed home. Bryan, Julie, and I drove up to Boston this past Thursday, where we had a room at the Westin, connected to the convention center. That night, we met up with a few of our Markland/Gamer friends over drinks at the Pub Crawl. Friday morning I was up in time to follow the crowds into the convention center for a day of dizzying bouncing from booth to booth, vendor to vendor, buying or oggling new board and video games. Also: Free promotional swag. The Friday night concert featured The Video Game Orchestra, Those Who Fight, and The Protomen. All excellent groups, and an overall awesome experience. Nack and Gina snaked us up front to meet Tori for the Protomen concert, so we were right up in the noise and excitement. One highlight of PAX is trying out new games, and I did get a couple demos in before buying. Caught a panel on gaming ethics with Marion on Saturday afternoon. In the evening, we took a cab to Kings for Dave's company dinner celebrating the release of his new RPG. After a few beers and snackies, it was back to the convention for more gaming. Sadly, I missed all of Sunday when I came down with a bout of Norovirus. Spent nearly 30 hours asleep, 12 of that in a van. Joy. Still, PAX East..one of my favorite weekends of the year!
Markland season starts tomorrow, and I'm packing tonight for a weekend of camping in the cold. Deb will get to use her propane coffee maker - no complaints, here. This weekend is my 12th anniversary of my first time fighting in Markland, and 12 years since I took my SATs.
So that was March for the most part. Come on Spring, where the hell are you?
Here's some pics from the past month:
Buildn' mah sentry
Tuesday game night with the Overlord
Custom vinyl decal made from a photograph
Dan and Cliff, ready to fend off the birthday party horde
PAX East!
Jerry brings on the Science.
The sight of the convention hall floor is always breathtaking.
So this happened. It's not every weekend a psycho jumps out of a vending machine and attacks you.
Friday night concerts at PAX East
I was a bit surprised once the 20th of the month hit, then realized it had almost been another full month since I updated. But I'm like, "Nah, gotta do PAX first - at least I'll have something to report back on". The past month has been rather uneventful, or rather, it's been routine. I haven't had a lot of free time in the past week, so this post is going to be a bit unorganized. As a matter of fact, I'm just going to blend it together into a single paragraph:
At one point, Deb and I did some shopping with our year-old wedding giftcards and ended up with some pans for the kitchen. I caught a cold after battling some kind of allergic outbreak for three weeks and spent my first sick day of the year playing the new Tomb Raider game. One weekend, I made a few batches Chex Mix which I exchanged for an HP mini computer. At the same time, I was commissioned to convert some snowboarding photos to silhouette stickers on my vinyl plotter. I played with some open source sentry software and tinkered on the workbench with a parts gun I bought off a local airsoft player. I couldn't bring the gun back to life, and the sentry software isn't compatable with Windows XP, so both projects are delayed. I played airsoft once per week and checked out the Airsoft Factory with Dan Frasier from HVD, who I found out was a fellow airsofter. Deb and I went out to dinner a few times - Margaritas, Outback, Salsa's. We caught the new Oz movie at the Movie Tavern and enjoyed it. Shopped at Zern's, saw duckies. Made fried pickles.
Work's taken the front stage a bit as of recent, since Bill assigned me the job of getting all our standard practices into a single document. I've been having meetings with between our lab group and the investigations group to work on getting to common ground. I think it's impressed the boss a bit, but the stress did get to me in the form of a cold a few weeks back. I also had my year-end review on the 14th - once again, I'm not head of the class, but I got to sit near the front. I got my annual merit increase and bonus, so at least all that extra work in 2012 was rewarded. That money goes right into house savings, but I did set aside a portion of it to enjoy PAX East.
The end of the month was capped off with PAX East, the big video game convention of the year for the East Coast. This time around it was just me; I'm the big gamer in the house, so Deb stayed home. Bryan, Julie, and I drove up to Boston this past Thursday, where we had a room at the Westin, connected to the convention center. That night, we met up with a few of our Markland/Gamer friends over drinks at the Pub Crawl. Friday morning I was up in time to follow the crowds into the convention center for a day of dizzying bouncing from booth to booth, vendor to vendor, buying or oggling new board and video games. Also: Free promotional swag. The Friday night concert featured The Video Game Orchestra, Those Who Fight, and The Protomen. All excellent groups, and an overall awesome experience. Nack and Gina snaked us up front to meet Tori for the Protomen concert, so we were right up in the noise and excitement. One highlight of PAX is trying out new games, and I did get a couple demos in before buying. Caught a panel on gaming ethics with Marion on Saturday afternoon. In the evening, we took a cab to Kings for Dave's company dinner celebrating the release of his new RPG. After a few beers and snackies, it was back to the convention for more gaming. Sadly, I missed all of Sunday when I came down with a bout of Norovirus. Spent nearly 30 hours asleep, 12 of that in a van. Joy. Still, PAX East..one of my favorite weekends of the year!
Markland season starts tomorrow, and I'm packing tonight for a weekend of camping in the cold. Deb will get to use her propane coffee maker - no complaints, here. This weekend is my 12th anniversary of my first time fighting in Markland, and 12 years since I took my SATs.
So that was March for the most part. Come on Spring, where the hell are you?
Here's some pics from the past month:
Click to viewBuildn' mah sentry
Tuesday game night with the Overlord
Custom vinyl decal made from a photograph
Dan and Cliff, ready to fend off the birthday party horde
PAX East!
Jerry brings on the Science.
The sight of the convention hall floor is always breathtaking.
So this happened. It's not every weekend a psycho jumps out of a vending machine and attacks you.
Friday night concerts at PAX East