If Jesus was Right, I'm Screwed
Now, I'm certainly not the most knowledgeable or committed enjoyer of cheese, but the finer ones have been taking on a growing role in my attempts to both enjoy the food I eat and spend no time in it's preparation. You can imagine my fears then when the previous week played out like this:
Friday - I consume a large block of Camembert
That Night - I spend several hours with what seems to be a horrendous case of internal gas
Monday - I consume a large circle of Brie
That Night - More horrendous cramps
Thursday - I eat some more Brie
That Night - The Brie eats me
I wise up at this point, hold off on the cheese and fail to prevent the extended and quite painful cramps from showing up again on Friday. It happens at work this time so the common sense of others dictates that I then go to a hospital, doctor, or clinic-type place and with some relief discover what I was starting to suspect to be the truth - my kidneys are stoned. (which prompts another thought - would getting the rest of my body stoned make this easier?)
Ok, so supposedly kidney stones rank fairly highly on the pain-o-meter, and yeah, I guess I can see that. When pressed, I gave it a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. It was enough to earn my ass (literally) a painkiller even though the receptionist told me they didn't give painkillers. Of course, it seems this little experience isn't quite over... so we'll see, maybe I'll get a chance to revise my estimation. (Which brings me back to my subject line and my hope that Jesus was just being metaphorical or something when he said that he without sin could pass the first stone... because that really would suck.)
Ok, I like a multi-purpose post, so I'll also report on a board game tournament I attended last weekend. It was a 4-day affair and I only went for one day (although I kinda wish I'd registered for the whole thing since it was fun). I played a game of Puerto Rico (2nd place out of 4... factory-smacktory let me down!), Ra (3rd out of 5, after learning it right before the match), and Caylus (2nd place out of 3). I liked Ra. Fast and light-wieght, with the time-tested benefits of being centered around a bidding mechanic. Puerto Rico was Puerto Rico. Caylus is a game I've played maybe a dozen times, and it deserves some attention. It may be the most convoluted board game I've played and is a serious pain in the urethera to teach, but it's deep and happens to be centered around another great mechanic - drafting. In the game I played, the three of us pursued totally divergent strategies and the scores were still very close.
So, being there for just a day, I wasn't going to have any overall finishes worth mentioning, but the CEO of our company defended our honor with a first place finish in Settlers of Catan. Of course, he had spent the previous year working with the creator of the game developing the AI for XBox Live version of the game, so it's possible he had an edge. (Although I think he's gotten first place in Settlers and other games in previous years, so he may have an edge anyway.) Good stuff.
Friday - I consume a large block of Camembert
That Night - I spend several hours with what seems to be a horrendous case of internal gas
Monday - I consume a large circle of Brie
That Night - More horrendous cramps
Thursday - I eat some more Brie
That Night - The Brie eats me
I wise up at this point, hold off on the cheese and fail to prevent the extended and quite painful cramps from showing up again on Friday. It happens at work this time so the common sense of others dictates that I then go to a hospital, doctor, or clinic-type place and with some relief discover what I was starting to suspect to be the truth - my kidneys are stoned. (which prompts another thought - would getting the rest of my body stoned make this easier?)
Ok, so supposedly kidney stones rank fairly highly on the pain-o-meter, and yeah, I guess I can see that. When pressed, I gave it a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. It was enough to earn my ass (literally) a painkiller even though the receptionist told me they didn't give painkillers. Of course, it seems this little experience isn't quite over... so we'll see, maybe I'll get a chance to revise my estimation. (Which brings me back to my subject line and my hope that Jesus was just being metaphorical or something when he said that he without sin could pass the first stone... because that really would suck.)
Ok, I like a multi-purpose post, so I'll also report on a board game tournament I attended last weekend. It was a 4-day affair and I only went for one day (although I kinda wish I'd registered for the whole thing since it was fun). I played a game of Puerto Rico (2nd place out of 4... factory-smacktory let me down!), Ra (3rd out of 5, after learning it right before the match), and Caylus (2nd place out of 3). I liked Ra. Fast and light-wieght, with the time-tested benefits of being centered around a bidding mechanic. Puerto Rico was Puerto Rico. Caylus is a game I've played maybe a dozen times, and it deserves some attention. It may be the most convoluted board game I've played and is a serious pain in the urethera to teach, but it's deep and happens to be centered around another great mechanic - drafting. In the game I played, the three of us pursued totally divergent strategies and the scores were still very close.
So, being there for just a day, I wasn't going to have any overall finishes worth mentioning, but the CEO of our company defended our honor with a first place finish in Settlers of Catan. Of course, he had spent the previous year working with the creator of the game developing the AI for XBox Live version of the game, so it's possible he had an edge. (Although I think he's gotten first place in Settlers and other games in previous years, so he may have an edge anyway.) Good stuff.