To my Secret Santa

Our family is doing a Secret Santa again this year, I got ****** for my Secret Santa. My brother and his family will be down to Seattle early January, which we celebrate the holidays. Here is the email that was sent out to the family.

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I've been very good this year. Here are some things that I'd like. Sorry this took a while to compile.

Arkham Horror (board game) ~$60.00
http://www.amazon.com/Arkham-Horror-VA09/dp/1589942108/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1259893332&sr=8-2-fkmr1
(can be found local at Uncles Games at Crossroads)

MC Frontalot CDs/MP3
http://frontalot.com/
1. Final Boss
2. Secrets From The Future
3. Nerdcore Rising
(The albums can be downloaded from the site above and then can be burned on a CD, save some money for more gifts or a iTune gift card can be given.)

Dawn of Discovery on the DS (Game System) (form Best Buy for a local location)

Memories of the Future - Volume 1 by Wil Wheaton ($19.87)
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/memories-of-the-future---volume-1/7742853

Sauder #190752 Cherry 2 Shelf Bookcase by SAUDER (~$30.00)
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=042666015653
(in the Seattle area, found it at Fred Meyers. UPC 042666015653)

JCPenney gift card for some new stuff to put on.

X-Shaped Rubber Bands (2 boxes) $(not much)
http://www.momastore.org/museum/moma/ProductDisplay_X-Shaped%20Rubber%20Bands_10451_10001_16698

The August Post

With posting on twitter, I have not posted as I once posted. For the blog I going to recap the basics of last month.

With Dragonflight, I had some great fun. Played a hand full of RPG games, some with Norm and others that played with at past conventions.
Got some nice freebies, picked up a few good deals on some RPG books and filled out on some D&D minis.

Check out the pictures I took at Dragonflight here.



With Comic-Con 2009 over for this year, I am still working on going thur the all the pictures I took. I have uploaded all the pictures from the main floor, the stars that had a booth or were in the autograph area and one of panels I went to. I still have a good number panels shots to review and upload. I should have those up soon.
Check out the Comic-Con Set link here for what I have uploaded so far and check back later for the other picture once I upload them.



Also this month we got some more play time in our newly started Hero System game. We now have 5 games under our belt.

Check out my character blog: http://gamesandgadgets.org/theblogs/kross/

The last note was that my brother has move out of the New York area to live in a house in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. The move is complete and they get to play whats in the box.

The meet up in New York

The trip was from June 17th thru the 21st. This was the best time that fit everyone's schedule.

With me traveling from Seattle to New York, its a all day trip, I got there the day before everyone else and spent some resting. I got to spend some time with my brother and my new nephew.

We were all meeting up at Chad's place, they all got there Thursday night for some cold pizza and a few game of Apples to Apples as a ice breaker game. Fun was had by all.

The next day we went to Ground Zero, Liberty Island and to the Top of the Rock. We meet up with Chad, went back to the apartment and started our Warhammer game. For a game we have not played in 10+ years, we picked it up slowly again. We got a good 5 or so hours of play and it looked like about 20% the way thru the adventure. More to play when we get together again in a year or two. To save on travel time Chad spent the night on the couch for a few hours of sleep.

We got up when we got up, picked up put rent a car and headed to play some paintball at Paintball Arena in New York. Last time I had played was sometime in 1991 (I think). We brought what stuff we had and rented the paintguns and masks. We played in a indoor arena, a first for me. For most of the games, we played on the same side. Running, shooting and getting hit. Not all in that order sometimes. We had fun in a game we had not played in a long time and I walked away with only 14 bruises.

Durring out trip we talked about old and new time, like old time. We plan to make a habbit of this and head over to my neck of the woods (Seattle) when next we meet up in a year or so.

See the pictures I took here.

The game of old.

Currently I am in New York seeing my brother and meeting up with some childhood friends. We are planing to have a old school game of Warhammer (the '86 RPG ver). Most of the characters are created, down on paper or in some one's head. The GM has a adventure in mind for us to go thru. As he has stated, it has been many moons from the last time he has played the game. We will most likely be playing most of this by ear.

The name for my Dwarf that I came up with is Rustfist Redforge.

See my game blog for other notes about the game: mygamenotes.blogspot.com

We shall see how this turns out.

The last day of my vacation in New York.

Gotten some time to sit and blog the last day of vacation (in New York), which was Tuesday (09/16/08).

The morning was not rushed. Kate had go to work for a while. Me and Chad took it easy. He worked on the computer and got some reading done. We got a chance to play We Love Golf on the Wii.
Kate got home and we drove out to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. After we looked around, we headed back to New York, where food was prepared. At that time they brought out enchiladas with birthday candles on them and sang Happy Birthday to me. One thing that was learned was that you do not put wax birthday candles into hot food, they tend to melt. Presents were given and opened. One that I did get a ticket to Avenue Q on Broadway for that night. We left early to look around Time Square and then we headed to the theater. The show was great. We stoped for a snack and headed back.

The last day of my vacation in New York.

It has been a log day. A good many things have been done. At this time it is late in the night. When I get some time in the next day or so I will get my notes and make a proper report of the day and add some pictures to the posts.

My bags are packed and by the door. The alarm clock is set for 6:15am wake up call for my 6:45am ride to the airport.

Good Night.

Monday, a not at work day.

Today we went into New York's Chinatown and Little Italy. We basicly looked around to get a feel for the area. One of the places that we looked into was Mahayana Buddhist Temple. It is the largest Buddhist temple in Chinatown. It was lucky that we also ran across the The Feast of San Gennaro and had some great pasta. After that we headed back to their place to rest play with the kids. Some food was cooked, some games were played (Eco Fluxx and Yahtzee) and a little was watched.

Sunday, traveling incognito.

Today we traveled to Wild Safari, a Six Flags Animal Park in Jackson, NJ. It was basically a 2 hr drive to get there. In the car some reading was done, the DS was played and a iPod was on. Once there, our car was used to drive thru the park (at slow speed) and stopping to look at and take pictures of the different animals in the different sections of the park. It was a great day to do this. The sun was out, a little over cast and there was no rain in sight. We had some time before we had to head back, we headed over to Jenkinson's Boardwalk for some food, rides and video games. For food I had a cheese hot dog and two fried oreos (not all at once). For the rides, we went on three of them (the names to be added later). And for the games, there was two games of air hockey (I won 1 and lost the other), a Deal or No Deal (for tickets) and some video games. We headed on back to home base where dinner was served with some DVD watching of the Star Wars Robot Chicken and 2 Episodes of Mythbusters. The day ended with some needed rest.

Click the picture to see the set of pictures on flickr.

The Saturday away from home.

I am still in New York. With some jet lag, I did stay up late and got at the same time I would normaly go to work (plus 3 hours). We started the day by watching The Gamers: Dorkness Rising DVD and found it a funny movie for the geeks in us. We then headed out and got some groceries for our meal over the next few days. After the food was put away, we set our mind to play a game. We play Inn-Fighting: D&D Dice Game by Wizards of the Coast (see my review on the next post). For dinner we went to S'MAC, located in the heart of Manhattan's East Village, which has some great Macaroni & Cheese.

My first day of my vacation.

Today was my day of travel. I got to sleep in some today. Finished last minute packing and then headed over to my parents place for a ride to the airport. Got checked in with no problems. With the check point they did put my backpack thru twice, no problems there. Just some waiting for the plan to load. Next was waiting for the plane to take off. Then there was waiting for the plane to land. When it did we had to wait to the walkway to the plane to be fixed. Lastly had to wait for my bags. Kate did show up to wait with me while Chad did a few laps in the car around the airport. Dinner was had and talking was done by all. There was a lot of waiting and sitting to get to New York, but the fun is just beginning.

Wii Update

I just checked my email and found a update of the status of my Christmas Wii.

Subject: Wii were successful! Mer-wii Christmas!

We just wanted to let you know that we have your Wii in hand and will be sending it your way post-haste. Merry Christmas!

I almost have a Wii.

Things you do not say . . .

Dad's birthday is Jan 5th, but my brother is us in Seattle. We got a cake, wrapped our presents and planed on celebrate it early, today. We got them in the house with out him knowing about it. We set them up in the dinning table while Dad got dinner ready. Benjamin (my nephew) came into the dinning room and yelled out "Who is the cake for?". He quickly was silenced. He had looked at the cake, but he did not read it. It did say"Happy Birthday Dad" on the top of it.

A Chrismas Greeting, of sorts.

The 12 Days of Email



This YouTube video was done for my brother's work and features his family.

Another Update

Dad is at home resting and working around the house. From the last few weeks I have been busy with family business. Today I got some me time and took it easy on my day off. Getting back to a more normal schedule for me. I did find out that part of my FMLA thru Metlife was approved and the other part needed some missing info to be completed.

Update

Dad is doing good on his rehab. With the holiday, there was a day of no rehab, but with my work. It game me some additional time off with out using any more FML. I go thru Metlife for FML, it took a while to get the paperwork, get it to the doctor to fill it out and get it faxed into Metlife. I should know if they are approved by this Wednesday.

The floor up stares.

I found out today, from dad that he will be moving up stares to rehab (physical and speech). It turns out that his room is right above the prev room down stares. He stares tomorrow with a full schedule.

Walking it off.

Found out that my dad is walking (with a little help from a walker, to keep him steady). He walk times up and down the halls. Given he had a fever yesterday and is clear for 24 hrs. He will be moved up to the rehab floor.

Good News.

Up thru Tuesday the 6th, my dad was not speaking. Just head nods. Today me and my mom came into the room. I said "Hi" and I got a "Hi" back from my dad. He has been speaking for most of the day and looks like he does not have any long term problems. He is progressing nicely.

The Sleep.

Today after work, a friend from dad's work, drove us (me and mom) to a vet. Once there, the family dog of 16 years was put to sleep. Due to age, being blind, deaf, not eating (even when given food) and not being able to walk, she was put to sleep in my mother's arms. It was a hard thing to do.

Here is a picture younger older days (I think it was a few years ago).

A bad Friday.

This is in basic terms to keep it simple. This last Friday, my dad had a fall off a ladders and hurt his head. Went into the hospital and had surgery. It went good and is recovering with some therapy this next week. To top it off, the family dog of 16 years is not doing good at all and is going to put to sleep soon.