Sooooooo behind

I'm SOOOOOO behind on blogging. The last few months have been really, really busy and it looks like it's not letting up until January. So, I'll have to post snippets when I can.

Major stuff that's been going on over the last few months:

• Went to San Francisco for Oracle Open World in October,
• Went to Belgium, Amsterdam & Essen, Germany with Chris & Jeremiah,
• Went to BGG.CON in Dallas,
• Went to the Bohemian Grove with Dave for Thanksgiving,
• Baked lots and lots of cookies, and finally...
• Have gone on lots and lots of dates, especially over the last month!

In between all that, I've been working, gaming, cooking, eating and trying to sleep! I'll have to post little tidbits about those adventures (plus any other little ones)!

BGG.CON 2008 Day 1

OK - so it's now 4:36 AM and we're winding down Day 1 of BGG.CON 2008... I'm in the Rock Band room, chillin', trying to stay awake while I write this. I think I officially missed a day yesterday, but my goodness, there's just too much happening here. I've been having fun with the webcam, talking to people all over the con (when my aircard and the ustream.tv website will cooperate).

If you're bored at work tomorrow, make sure you tune in! I think I'm only "planning" on webcasting around noon (or whenever I get downstairs) and then later at 11 PM before the drawing. That's CST! And we'll do the midnight drawing and then later, Ca$h'n Guns Live and maybe Time's Up? I'm not sure how popular the Werewolf was last night. The website crapped out and probably dropped the feed before they finished. I have no idea.

So far, it's been a blast. I'm still not fully recovered and I've been talking all day and I'm starting to lose my voice. I really need to try to get some sleep and take it easy.

I only played one "real" game last night and that was After the Flood, the new Martin Wallace game. It was fun and I think that if you like Martin Wallace games, you'll probably enjoy this one. It's really tight with resources and you really need to manage everything, planning both your short-term and long-term goals. I definitely need to play it again to grasp a basic strategy fully. I played with Michael Weston (delta1119) and Janna. Janna schooled us! It was awesome!

Other than that, I think I just played Time's Up! and Title Recall. I got to see Davebo act out all the works of Mark Twain in 30 seconds - white washing a fence, cajoling someone else into doing the white washing, a trip down the Mississippi River, burning at the stake(?) and other stuff. If I do stream Time's Up! tomorrow night, I will do my best to get Davebo in that game. He's so good at the third round (AKA: the no-words round).

BGG Application for the iPhone

So I haven't caved and bought one of the fancy iPhones (not yet at least), but I did see the BoardGameGeek application created by Ryan Christianson (BGG ID: ryanch) for the iPhone tonight.

It's similar to MiniBGG in that you can search on BGG and download information as well as record plays. Click here to link to the Apple iTunes store if you're interested... the best part is that it's FREE!

Twittering from BGG.CON 2008

Do you want to know what everyone's up to at BGG.CON 2008? You can find out by checking out this link:

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23bggcon

Set it up now on your RSS feeder or bloglines.com or whatever you use to keep up wtiht he latest and greatest... We've already started posting and I don't expect it to stop until Sunday night!!

Gift-free Christmas

I've been discussing this with several of my friends. The concept of a gift-free Christmas. And I think we're in agreement. We're going gift-free!

I mean, really... do I need more stuff? I've been slowly working on getting RID of stuff. I really don't need more books, CDs, games, clothes, or anything else.

Shane suggested regifting as a possibility and I think I might do that. I already sent her home with a bag of clothes and have something else I could possibly send her way for Christmas.

The couple exceptions will be children. I have a few kids in my life that I want to buy a gift for. Nothing extravagant, just a little something. And probably Greg too.

More than anything, I just want to spend time with everyone! I'm in Dallas for BGG.CON, then off to Athens for Thanksgiving plus some and then back in LA on December 4th. And then I'm in town for one more month!! And looking forward to seeing everyone!

Random Stuff

I'm feeling better. I have a cough, but in general, I'm feeling much better as of this morning... I'm going to get lots of sleep the next couple days and I'm packing cough drops and Dayquil for the trip, JUST IN CASE. Maybe going to Texas tomorrow will help because the fires are making the air so gross and it is NOT helping my cough. At. All.

I'm not sure how much time I'll have from blogging... hmmm... maybe some live blogging from the con? Anyway, I think I'm going to schedule some posts in advance of the con so that I am not worrying about the whole posting every day in November. Actually, I think it's just 30 posts in November, so I guess in theory I could post twice in one day to make up for a missing day!

I'm pretty much all packed up for BGG.CON, just going to stop by Trader Joe's in the morning to pick up a few snacks to take with me to the con and then to Greg's afterwards.

The couch surfer is leaving tomorrow morning. She seemed nice enough, but I can't imagine living so loose the way she does. More power to her, but living gig to gig is definitely not for me!

Oh no! I'm sick!

I felt fine when I woke up and then halfway through the day, my throat started hurting. And then I started coughing. And now, I'm going to take Nyquil and crawl into bed and turn off my phones. UGH. Why is this happening right before BGG.CON? BOOOOOOO...

Countdown to BGG.CON

Only nine more days until BGG.CON! I can't wait!!

I'm really excited because I know even MORE people from the SoCal area that are going and I get to see some of my favorite gamers that weekend! I can't wait! I'm going to have to stock up on sleep beforehand and sweet tea during the convention!

I'm going to bring my laptop with me and camera and I'm hoping to post pictures up on my Flickr account and maybe some videos up on YouTube while we're at the con... Just to keep everyone who isn't there in the loop somewhat while it's happening!

Live blogging from the event? Maybe!

Mini BGG

I'm kinda geeky when it comes to games, but I'm not really a girl for all the minute details. I can be if it's something I am really interested in, but for the most part, I just lack the patience to chase down little details.

Case in point: MiniBGG

It's a streamlined website that takes all the essentials of BoardGameGeek.com and compresses it down for those of us using phones and just need to look up a quick fact or two. The awesome thing you can do with it is log your plays! You look up a game and then log your play from your phone. As someone who logs all her plays, this is awesome. No more keeping track of what I played on a little piece of paper so that I can transpose it to the website when I get home. If I remember and if I don't lose it!

The problem was this... You log in with your same user name and password at BGG. However, I could never get my password to work! I've known about MiniBGG.com for months, but could never figure it out and never took the time to go figure it out.

Thank you Valerie! She posted an article on BoardGameNews.com on how to get MiniBGG.com to work! And as a result, I logged all my plays in real time while at Oasis of Fun! It rocked!!!

BGG Secret Santa 2007

I'm participating in BoardGameGeek's Secret Santa gift exchange this year and all I can say is "WOW!!!!!"

I received an email from my Secret Santa last week that said:

You have been very good this year and your Secret Santa has sent you a package from Thoughthammer. They don't wrap their SS gifts, so your Santa insists that you open your package when you get it and not wait until Christmas. Your Secret Santa wants you to play, play, play right away.

Your Secret Santa lives in Massachusetts.

So, when the box arrived today, imagine my absolute happy dance-i-ness when I saw that my Secret Santa did not send me ONE game, but THREE!!! How generous!! WOW!!

I received: Antike, Gang of Four AND the New Moon expansion deck for Werewolf!!

So to my Secret Santa: Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Cash'n Guns Live at BGG.CON

I took a video of a group of us playing Ca$h'n Gun$ Live. When I tried to upload it to YouTube, it was WAY too big. After some searching on the FAQs, I found an uploader tool they have for big, giant files. Now let's see if they work properly!!

OK, after someone who's never played C'n'G Live pointed out, what the heck is going on? Here's how you play...

You split up into gangs. The object is to get the most money. There are five rounds. The gang leader looks at the available cards and distributes them among the gang. If you get shot with a gun (not a shotgun), it takes two shots to "kill" you. A shotgun or grenade will kill you instantly. Whoever's left standing at the end of it gets a share of the loot!

These are the available "weapon" cards:

• Bang, bang, bang - you have a single gun (your hand) and you get one shot
• Double guns - You get to use double guns (BOTH your hands!)
• Shotgun - Make a shotgun motion with your hands, the person you kill gets to take one step backwards and spread their arms out. Whoever they can touch gets wounded (like one shot from a gun)

These are the available "click" cards. If you have one of these, you make motions like you have a "weapon" card, but you don't actually get to shoot anyone.

• Grenade - if you get shot, you can take one jump in any direction and spin around a la Wonder Woman and whoever you touch is killed.
• Backstab - if you are wounded/killed, you can backstab someone with your left hand (if you can reach them)
• Kevlar - you can ignore your first shot/wound. This doesn't protect against shotguns or grenades.

Once it's clear who everyone is shooting at, people have the option of chickening out. If you chicken out, you move out of the line of sight while the rest of it gets sorted out and you're back in for the next round. If you don't chicken out, you are killed, go to the hospital and sit out for a whole round.

So this first video is people running around getting position. The second video is the chickening out of one Mr. Rubbo and the resolution of the rest!

The Set-up


The Resolution

Home from BGG.CON 2007

I just got home from BGG.CON 2007. I will have to go back and clean up previous blog posts sent from my phone (it doesn't like apostrophes for some reason), but the short of it is that we had a pretty fun time! I will also have to blog in more detail about events at the con.

It's late though and I really need some sleep. Zzzzzzz...

Pretty much packed

I am pretty much packed (less toiletries) and am getting ready to head out. Something funny happened yesterday... I got a text message from eHarmony #8 and turns out we're on the same flight this morning. He's transferring in Dallas to go to Ft. Lauderdale for a guys weekend. How crazy is that? I told him to quit stalking me already!! So, we'll see how seeing him after two hours of sleep goes.

We got to bed SUPER-late last night, partially due to another "quick" game of Agricola that was started around 10:30 PM. On a gaming note, we used the E & I decks and what else? It was awesome... That game just keeps getting better and better. I can't wait to play it every day!!

Leaving for BGG.CON tomorrow!

Wow, today has just FLOWN by! I've been trying to get everything done, but didn't succeed. At least the stuff that got left is stuff that's OK to wait until my return on Monday.

And, for the record, Agricola is like gamer gold. I've received more than a few requests from my long distance gamer friends for me to teach them how to play Agricola. And I will be happy to. I feel like I'll be able to recite it in my sleep by the end of the weekend!

My Coolio BGG.CON schedule thus far...
Wednesday: Going for a fancy steak dinner, then setting up
Thursday: Gaming and going to the Spurs vs. Mavericks game
Friday: Puzzle hunt with my hand-picked, totally awesome, smarty-pants team!, Transamerica tournament
Saturday: Game show and more gaming!
Sunday: Gaming plus going to the Redskins vs. Cowboys game

It's going to be a packed weekend. I want to play Agricola once a day if possible while there, eat lots of BBQ and play lotsa Time's Up and Werewolf! OOOOoooo... Ultimate Werewolf!!!

Oh, I feel sorry for everyone NOT going. It's going to be a blast!

BGG.CON 2007

The registration opened today for BGG.CON 2007. I'm signed up and ready to go! I booked my hotel room, so now I just need a plane ticket! The emails are flying fast and furiously! I can't wait!!

*doing a little happy dance in my chair*

First Math Trade on BGG

I have participated in my first math trade on BoardGameGeek (BGG). It's basically a massive trade. I entered in the games I was willing to trade away, as did everyone else... Then after everyone posted, we all looked to see what we were interested in.

For each game I offered up for trade, I listed what I'd be willing to accept for it. I think I did pretty well!!

Here's my math trade summary:

• I'm trading away Hive and receiving James Clavell's Noble House
• I'm trading away Through the Desert and receiving Ra
  
• I'm trading away Nexus Ops and receiving Elfenland
  
• I'm trading away Ingenious and receiving Web of Power

I think I did pretty well!!! I am looking forward to playing all the games I received in the trade!!

My Secret Santa has delivered!

I signed up for this year's Secret Santa exchange on BGG and I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened up my package from Time Well Spent and saw that I had received two games I have been wanting! Wyatt Earp and Werewolf!!

Wow, I just realized that my Santa is totally on the ball! We were assigned our targets on 12/1/06 and that's when he placed his order!!

When I got the box, I thought to myself, "What did I order from Time Well Spent?" I thought maybe I had and just forgotten. Geez, that's pretty bad!! I wish I had thought about what it was. I would've waited til Christmas to open it. Oh well.

I'm very happy. I've been wanting those games for ages!!

I need to get on the stick for my target. I ordered his games with some other ones that are backordered, so I might have to go somewhere else and just pick them up and keep those as extra games. Hmmm... we'll see... I have two of the games he wants in my closet unopened right now, so I could just ship those out and buy myself replacements since it doesn't really matter when I get them.

What I really want though is to send him something else, like cookies or something. Hopefully he's not allergic to chocolate!

BGG Secret Santa

I've been assigned my target for the BGG Secret Santa 2006. It's someone I don't know which isn't surprising. The individual does live in California though and has one person on his geekbuddy list that I know. Not bad considering he doesn't have that many people geekbuddied.

I want to send him something other than game(s), but there isn't enough on his profile to go by. I may have to contact our mutual geekbuddy to do some recon work!

BGG.CON 2006 Recap

Well, I'm back from the BoardGameGeek convention. The #1 thing to say about it is that it was a blast!!! I slept a total of 12 hours from Thursday morning until I boarded the plane Sunday evening around 6 PM.

I won't list all the games I played because frankly, most anyone reading this just wouldn't care. And all my geeky friends know where to find the list of games I played, so, there.

Here's what I do know: I will be signing up to attend next year's con as soon as it's available. It was fabulous. I really liked the hotel room, but frankly, I might be tempted to cram a bunch of people in a room because all I did was sleep and shower in there. I spent zero time in my room. Maybe I will change my mind by next year, we'll see!

Highlights included:

Puzzle hunt: OMG, my friend Dave did a puzzle hunt for the con and it was fabulous!! I can't say much about it since he may run it again in SoCal, but it was REALLY fun. A lot of people complained it was too long and I could see that, but I didn't feel that way. We were probably around 3rd place or so on this one. We were SO close to finishing!! This was won by team Desert Meeple.

Frozen custard: We went out for dinner on Friday night after the puzzle hunt and then had some frozen custard. It was delish. I'm ready to have some more!

Game show: We participated in a Family Feud style game show (our team name was Meeple are Meeple) and we sat across the row from a team of two gamers from the SCB group (a fellow SoCal Group - their team name was Die, Fuggers!). We were talking shit to them all throughout the game, especially when we were in first place at the end of the second round. Unfortunately, they made a strong comeback in the third round and ended up coming in second place by only ONE point!!! It was so close. Those damn Desert Meeples won this too! And the sad thing is that we were beat by team Mangina (Derk, Ron, Jon and someone else I think) who consumed TWO bottles of wine during the show. Ugh!!! :-P

Final Score

Playing Werewolf: I had only played WW once at my apt. I played one game on Saturday night which turned into two games to three and next thing we knew it was around 8 AM on Sunday. So, Aaron says, "Well, there's no point in going to bed now, right?" He was absolutely right, consider the con ended at 3 PM, so I just said, "All right! Who's hungry?" We all piled into my rented SUV (thank goodness for that car!) and we headed out to Cafe Brazil for breakfast.

While we were there, Aaron offered $20 to anyone who would drink some of the pretty spicy hot sauce on the table. He had one taker who drank more than the required amount and paid for it for the rest of the morning. He did, however, get his $20!

Oh, and a quick side note, Greg had a WW playlist on his iPod for us to listen to while it was nighttime during the game. It was pretty cool.

Being mooned after a game of Time's Up: Yes, I saw Derk's ass on Friday night. 'Nuff said.

BGG.con update

I just sent this out to my gaming group, so if you're in that, it's pretty much the same thing.

We're all having a great time!! We've been playing lots of games: Imperial, Emira, Space Dealer, Time's Up, Werewolf, a couple prototypes (Homesteaders and something else), etc. Jeff won a prize in the drawing last night: Pitch Car with the expansion set. The library is huge and there are tons of games from Essen.

I think the one we've all played and enjoy pretty much is Space Dealer. It's a space themed simultaneous played game with timers to regulate the actions. It comes with a CD that plays background music and serves as the timer. I think Lincoln already has one on order and I think I might pick up a second copy so we can try the 8 player version. It's neat, very different.

Aaron entered the Texas Hold'em tournament and did pretty well. I think he said he ended up 13th out of over 100 people who entered.

L&N, Ron, Aaron and I were on a team and did Dave's puzzle hunt yesterday. It was stunningly fun!! We had a great time. I was SO impressed with all the puzzles and the whole overall continuity. I loved it. We all did. And we were all made famous in one of the clues when Dave used us all in a Puerto Rico session report puzzle. Fabulous!!

Hmmmm.... other than that, lots of late night gaming - favorites are Time's Up and Werewolf (which I will play tonight).