Been Too Long

I was just about to get up form the computer for the night when I realized I hadn't posted anything here in well over a week, so here I am.

The big reason I didn't post earlier in the week or last weekend id because I went back to Seattle last Thursday night and was there until Monday morning. When I return from those trips I always have a lot of catching up to do; laundry, email, work, and freelancing, so Monday night was filled with that. Tuesday I ran my weekly game, and Wednesday, who knows? I forgot.

Even tonight, I was busy editing the very last chapter of my big assignment after finalizing the rest of the book with the writer. It's looking fantastic and I'll be very excited when I can finally announce what I'm working on.

As for last weekend; it was my Valentine's present weekend for Julia since I wasn't around for the actual holiday. We did all the normal running around and taking care of things, but most importantly, we spent a couple of days in the garden. I used the pick-axe (yes, a pick-axe) to break up five big sections of the back yard and then mixed in ten bags of compost to create some raised beds so Julia can plant some vegetables this year. She's very excited to give it a try and there was no way she could grow things in our clay-like ground without the whole pick-axe thing happening.

We also went to a class at a local nursery to learn about growing berry bushes. We have a couple of raspberries planted already, but I also bought her two blueberry bushes which should be a lot of fun. They're different varieties, one blooms early in the year and the other blooms later, but they recommend getting two different kinds to aid in pollination. Apparently we'll end up with better and larger berries this way.

Sunday we went to my sister- and brother-in-law's brother-in-law's funeral (I'll wait while you parse that out). It was very sad and an odd thing to go to during an otherwise fun and light weekend. It's pretty sad story because he was 50 and left behind a wife and a six-year-old son. Both of whom will soon be homeless due to medical bills. Whee.

Saturday night, Julia and I met up with Kim, Kevin, and their daughter Samantha for sushi at a new place in Renton. It's a sister store to the one we went to in Hawaii on our honeymoon, so that was fun -- and the food was very good. I love sushi. Kim had a bunch of figures for me for a miniatures game I play (or want to play more of, at least). She had WAY more figures than I'd ever expected, so I've spent some of this week assembling them. That's been nice because it's sort of nice to have a project that doesn't involve sitting in front of the computer. When they're all assembled I get to paint them, and considering how many I have to paint, I think I'll be done in 2020. But I might surprise myself. (Oh, if you're curious what the figures are, it's for a game called Warmachine and I have some pictures of the things I've already painted in my Flickr stream in the right-hand column.)

Okay, time for me to play with those little metal men and super-glue, then hit the sack.

Almost Done!

My big editing project is going well and I'm almost done. In fact one good night of reading and it'll be done and I'll be ready for whatever changes come back from the author since he and I have come up with some additions and changes that are needed. Unfortunately, I have plans for Wednesday night, then I fly home Thursday night and spend the weekend with Julia -- most likely in the garden most of the time! I'm sure there will also be some other fix-it things to handle as well.

Work has been good lately. The really difficult deadline is over and now I'm spending my time cleaning up a bunch of missions and polishing as much as possible. I'm really very happy with how my portion of things have turned out. Not to imply that I'm not happy about the rest of it; it's all good!

This past weekend was a very nice three day weekend and I spent Saturday at a convention in San Ramon with Randy and Amy (who were nice enough to give me a ride). I managed to finagle a badge from a gaming industry buddy who lives in Seattle, but was down at the show to run a booth with his new wife. That was awfully nice of Phil, because I wouldn't have gone if I needed to pay the $50 entry fee. I spent the day walking around and checking out a bunch of games, but only played in one game, but I had a nice time. It was very hard to get back into the swing of attending a show for fun. I'm so used to working at them that I really didn't know what to do with myself. Maybe next time I'll actually indulge in a bit more gaming.

Sunday and Monday I spent at the house, cleaning, doing laundry, editing, watching Saturday Night Live on Netflix, and just generally relaxing. It was nice.

Tonight (Tuesday night) I ran a game at work. I'm very happy with how it's going and I'll probably wrap up this first storyline in the next month. Then hopefully I'll get to play in a game for a while.

Okay, you don't want to hear about my games. I'll update again soon. Hopefully when I'm back in Seattle this weekend.

Alive and Well

I'm still hard at work on my dayjob and on my big new project for my freelance work, which is why I haven't had time for updates here. I wish it were different, because I know for many of you this is the only regular contact we have. Sorry about that.

My weekend was pretty much filled with editing, but I took a break Sunday afternoon to run to the game store with Jim and do some shopping to restock the larder. I've been pretty impressed with myself lately because I've been eating at home a lot more often than the past few months. That is good for my wallet.

Tonight (Monday night) after work Jim and I drove to a nearby GameStop to pick up a game I think Julia will enjoy for the Xbox. I was very happy when I took it to the counter to check out because it was half price! So instead of being $8 it was only $4! How great is that? Julia liked the game Myst and this game, Syberia II, is supposed to be similar. I hope she likes it!

This next weekend there's a gaming convention in town and I'm hoping to finagle a badge somehow so I can check it out. I've always heard good things about this show. I still have a lot of editing to do, however, so I'm not sure if I'll spend a lot of time there or if I'll feel guilty and run home to edit. Time will tell.

Talk to you as soon as I have a few minutes!