Today in The Weekend that Was
So, this past weekend I went to Game Summit, a two day gaming con held in Ottawa.
The event was held in the Nepean Sportsplex, a big sporting venue in the middle of that blighted wasteland. It was a couple blocks south of Algonquin, my alma mater (motto: Hey, I graduated!).
The weekend started off interestingly enough. The first weird thing was that Google Maps suggested that I should take Highway seven to Ottawa to get to my hotel.
For those if you in foreign parts (wave, nice people!), highway seven is a secondary type route that runs parallel to highway 401, which is the main highway you'll travel down in the civilized parts of Ontario. It's two lane for much of its length, and passes through several towns, with the requisite slowdowns to accommodate people.
This was surprising, because CW says that Ottawa is accessed from Toronto by going up the 401 and taking the 416 north. Huzzah!
This is true. Unless you're travelling to Kanata.
Let me describe for you where Kanata is: if there's a bright centre of Ottawa, it's the part that it's farthest from. Unless you qualify a bright centre of Ottawa as someplace west of Bank street, in which case shut up.
An ex-girlfriend's mother once noted that many students and other types who lived in Ottawa could go quite some time having never interacted with the wonders of the city's west end. Having spent a couple years living there, I now wonder what the fuck's wrong with that, exactly?
So. The hotel I was booked at by Priceline (Shatner will pay, folks) was a Comfort Inn by the highway in Kanata. The ride up was nice; possibly rainstorms stayed away, and I dropped by to visit eyebeams and his family while on the way through Peterborough.
While on my way there, I contemplated also dropping by to visit the workplace of another Peterboroughian, but a quick bit of math (Know via LJ + Know on Facebook + have exchanged holiday cards - Never having actually met = No unexpectedly showin up at their work) kiboshed that. I may just visit the canoe museum anyway.
The trip up Highway 7 was nice enough. The sky was clear and the roads were open.
The hotel? Shatner will pay. The bed was comfy enough, the room had a mini fridge and microwave, and wireless, and the bathroom was spacious enough. It was the smell. I found out on checkout that the hotel is a pet friendly one, so that kind of explains that. I was afraid that I'd got travel funk on me on my way in, but the scent seemed to be a local one.
I guess there's times when you can escape pet urine, and times when you can't.
Game Summit was a well put together show. They had a bunch of vendors in attendance, including Crossed Swords from Toronto, which remains a commercial conundrum for me.
I was there mostly to establish a presence at the Great Canadian Boardgame Blitz qualifier being held there. The tournament went well, with the attendees having a good time. The game was decided in the final round, when the remaining players chose to play a large game of Medici. The leader at the time was very much in favour of it, since he enjoyed bidding games.
You can probably see where this is going.
The other players took it upon themselves to pile on the leader, which left him the not leader. There's probably a parable in there somewhere.
I got to socialize with some people, meet some dealers, and talk with the organizers of Game Summit about working together, which they seemed very enthusiastic about; they have some gorgeous Warhammer terrain that they're willing to supply for the show. If those Conventioneers guys try their little Godzilla stunt, I will happily hold them down while Corey swings the sledgehammer.
I also saw jkanane and spross who apparently showed up primarily to laugh at me for staying in a shitty hotel. Thanks, guys.
I did a little shopping, mostly picking up a couple sale items (the LSH HeroClix starter & Farmers of the Moor) and the Chrononauts Action Set: The core game, the identities expansion, and the Gore Years expansion.
The only quibble with the Gore years is that it's a bit brief; there are fewer cards in the new row than in previous rows, although it is only 8 years. There are new lynchpins, new patches, new id cards, the works.
I noticed that the current version of Chrononauts already takes the cards for The Gore Years into account, as the various cards in the core set include events such as the 9/11 attacks.
Saturday after the tournament I met up with Mike (Munchkin fan Mike, not another one) for some pizza and too many games of Chrononauts.
Funny story. As is well known, the iPhone's battery holds juice about as well as a cranky toddler with a leaky sippy cup.
Anyway, after I left town, Cynra was having a little stomach discomfort. She went to the SGU event at Space on Friday night, and then on Saturday started feeling a little sore in her abdominal area.
So, Saturday night, after miPhone had well and truly kicked it for the night, she called Telehealth. Based on the location of the pain, they said, it's possible you have appendicitis. Perhaps you should go to your local emergency ward.
Mike and I were either polishing off a nice pizza or perching ourselves on a patio for a couple drinks at the time.
So, Cynra called up absinthe_dot_ca for a ride to the emergency department.
So, Mike and I polished off our drinks, and moseyed back to his box filled pad (he's moving out of it relatively slowly) to break the seal on Chrononauts.
After a few games, I borrow his celly to give Cynra call, and learn at that point that she's waiting for some assistance. Whoops.
Eventually, the diagnosis is no appendicitis, so she goes home, and I hit the sack when she gives the all clear.
I drop back by the con on Sunday to pick up the score sheets for the tournament, and then meet up with a friend from Algonquin to play with his kids in the park while his wife does some marking. After some lunch, it's back home, stopping by ACB to drop off Pater Bitter's father's day card and grab dinner and a nap before the final leg home.
The event was held in the Nepean Sportsplex, a big sporting venue in the middle of that blighted wasteland. It was a couple blocks south of Algonquin, my alma mater (motto: Hey, I graduated!).
The weekend started off interestingly enough. The first weird thing was that Google Maps suggested that I should take Highway seven to Ottawa to get to my hotel.
For those if you in foreign parts (wave, nice people!), highway seven is a secondary type route that runs parallel to highway 401, which is the main highway you'll travel down in the civilized parts of Ontario. It's two lane for much of its length, and passes through several towns, with the requisite slowdowns to accommodate people.
This was surprising, because CW says that Ottawa is accessed from Toronto by going up the 401 and taking the 416 north. Huzzah!
This is true. Unless you're travelling to Kanata.
Let me describe for you where Kanata is: if there's a bright centre of Ottawa, it's the part that it's farthest from. Unless you qualify a bright centre of Ottawa as someplace west of Bank street, in which case shut up.
An ex-girlfriend's mother once noted that many students and other types who lived in Ottawa could go quite some time having never interacted with the wonders of the city's west end. Having spent a couple years living there, I now wonder what the fuck's wrong with that, exactly?
So. The hotel I was booked at by Priceline (Shatner will pay, folks) was a Comfort Inn by the highway in Kanata. The ride up was nice; possibly rainstorms stayed away, and I dropped by to visit eyebeams and his family while on the way through Peterborough.
While on my way there, I contemplated also dropping by to visit the workplace of another Peterboroughian, but a quick bit of math (Know via LJ + Know on Facebook + have exchanged holiday cards - Never having actually met = No unexpectedly showin up at their work) kiboshed that. I may just visit the canoe museum anyway.
The trip up Highway 7 was nice enough. The sky was clear and the roads were open.
The hotel? Shatner will pay. The bed was comfy enough, the room had a mini fridge and microwave, and wireless, and the bathroom was spacious enough. It was the smell. I found out on checkout that the hotel is a pet friendly one, so that kind of explains that. I was afraid that I'd got travel funk on me on my way in, but the scent seemed to be a local one.
I guess there's times when you can escape pet urine, and times when you can't.
Game Summit was a well put together show. They had a bunch of vendors in attendance, including Crossed Swords from Toronto, which remains a commercial conundrum for me.
I was there mostly to establish a presence at the Great Canadian Boardgame Blitz qualifier being held there. The tournament went well, with the attendees having a good time. The game was decided in the final round, when the remaining players chose to play a large game of Medici. The leader at the time was very much in favour of it, since he enjoyed bidding games.
You can probably see where this is going.
The other players took it upon themselves to pile on the leader, which left him the not leader. There's probably a parable in there somewhere.
I got to socialize with some people, meet some dealers, and talk with the organizers of Game Summit about working together, which they seemed very enthusiastic about; they have some gorgeous Warhammer terrain that they're willing to supply for the show. If those Conventioneers guys try their little Godzilla stunt, I will happily hold them down while Corey swings the sledgehammer.
I also saw jkanane and spross who apparently showed up primarily to laugh at me for staying in a shitty hotel. Thanks, guys.
I did a little shopping, mostly picking up a couple sale items (the LSH HeroClix starter & Farmers of the Moor) and the Chrononauts Action Set: The core game, the identities expansion, and the Gore Years expansion.
The only quibble with the Gore years is that it's a bit brief; there are fewer cards in the new row than in previous rows, although it is only 8 years. There are new lynchpins, new patches, new id cards, the works.
I noticed that the current version of Chrononauts already takes the cards for The Gore Years into account, as the various cards in the core set include events such as the 9/11 attacks.
Saturday after the tournament I met up with Mike (Munchkin fan Mike, not another one) for some pizza and too many games of Chrononauts.
Funny story. As is well known, the iPhone's battery holds juice about as well as a cranky toddler with a leaky sippy cup.
Anyway, after I left town, Cynra was having a little stomach discomfort. She went to the SGU event at Space on Friday night, and then on Saturday started feeling a little sore in her abdominal area.
So, Saturday night, after miPhone had well and truly kicked it for the night, she called Telehealth. Based on the location of the pain, they said, it's possible you have appendicitis. Perhaps you should go to your local emergency ward.
Mike and I were either polishing off a nice pizza or perching ourselves on a patio for a couple drinks at the time.
So, Cynra called up absinthe_dot_ca for a ride to the emergency department.
So, Mike and I polished off our drinks, and moseyed back to his box filled pad (he's moving out of it relatively slowly) to break the seal on Chrononauts.
After a few games, I borrow his celly to give Cynra call, and learn at that point that she's waiting for some assistance. Whoops.
Eventually, the diagnosis is no appendicitis, so she goes home, and I hit the sack when she gives the all clear.
I drop back by the con on Sunday to pick up the score sheets for the tournament, and then meet up with a friend from Algonquin to play with his kids in the park while his wife does some marking. After some lunch, it's back home, stopping by ACB to drop off Pater Bitter's father's day card and grab dinner and a nap before the final leg home.