The times of Then, Here and There.

Its a busy year for conventions. Looking at 7 major/large conventions this year. The largest number for for me (so far).

Emerald City ComiCon
- I only went one day this year and with some great panels, I did not get all the time I would have like to look around. I will be doing the full three days next year.

Sakura-Con
- Three days of fun. I even got my tickets for next year.

PaizoCon
- Great SWAG bag. I did not get in on any of the games. Did sit in on a few of the seminars. Saturday was Free RPG Day and had a good game of D&D with a preview of the new Dark Sun setting. I will try it again next year and register early to get into a game or two.

Comic-Con International
- This is 3 days away with w00tstock the night of the first full day of the convention. The schedule has been reviewed and some plans have been put together (in my head) that I hope come to pass. Now I just need to finish packing.

Gen Con Indy
- This will be my first GenCon. Going with two friends for a first time all around. I have done my research on what to expect, but time will tell on how much fun will be had.

Dragonflight
- A local RPG convention with people I have played with in the past. The games they have listed look great, with the full weekend of playing games.

PAX
- I have my full weekend ticket already purchased (this year), with the passes now sold out. Looking forward to the geek bands and such for the conventions. With some good swag from what I picked up from PAX past.

This is one last trip planed this year. It would be to see my brother and his family over on the east coast some time mid-September around my birthday.

It has and will be a busy time. Fun times.

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.

To play games in New York.

With the New York trip next month. I am going over my game that could play 5 or more player (and that does not take too much space in the suitcase).

Here are the games I have that fit the bill:

• The Great Dalmuti (4-8 players)
• James Ernest's Totally Renamed Spy Game (3-6 players)
• Monty Python Fluxx (2-6 players)
• Inn-Fighting, D&D Dice Game (3-6 players)
• Citadels (2-7 players)
• Castle (2-5 players)
• Super Munchkin (3-6 players)
• Wing of War (2-6 players) [ Update: Played the game the other night. A good game, but looks like this I will not bring it. ]
  
• Give Me The Brain (3-8 players)
• Rorschach: The Inkblot Party Game (3-8 players) [ New Game: Looked like a good and fast playing party game to bring on the trip. ]
  

I am also looking what game I could get/purchase (that does not take too much space in the suitcase).

Any suggestions?

The meeting of old friends.

Found out during the vacation from my brother that the old gang has all oked a get together next year some time in June or July. A time will be nailed down sometime in January. For me, June or early July are good for me. ComicCon begins July 22nd of 2009. From what I know, Chad has his wife's brother's wedding some time in late June (I think). As time goes on, time will tell.

This is close to a group picture as I have.
On the left we have Luke, Heath (thats me) and Chad.
On the right we have Neal, Mark and Will.

It has been a while sense we have all been in the same room together. I thinking of a date of some time in 1991, plus or min a year. We have all spread out all across the US.

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.

The drunk guy in the subway.

Yesterday I saw my first drunk guy in the New York subway. Heading back from dinner, I noticed a guy in a white shirt slumped down on a bench along the wall, off to my left. The train jerked to a start and he toppled over onto the floor. He did not move, he was dead drunk and it was only 8:30 pm. A guy near by, to the guy on the floor, came over to make sure he was alive. He slapped him a few time and he stirred.

Older

Yesterday I headed over to a friends house thinking it was game night. It turned out I was off by a week. That showing my age. ;-) We talked and I got to see the new baby. With some time I headed over to Half-Price Books and found a few items. I next started to head back home, but stoped by Best Buy to pick up the The Grim Adventures of Bill & Mandy. Took a little bit of time, it was found in the B section. I thought it would be under the G section. Oh well.
While I was at Best Buy Chad (my brother) call to wish me a happy 35th birthday. Two days late, but understandable due to getting ready for our parents trip to see them in New York. I did learn that they have moved into the new bigger place and that dad is help refurnish most of the cherry furniture. The new place is about four blocks from Chad old place in Forest Hills and required about a month of work to clean and fix up the place before they moved in.
Just a little over a month away, I will be heading down to see them for about a week. Till then.

The flight back home.

Before I comment on the Comic-Con (on another post), I going to post what happened on Sunday. We took our time in the morning, hit the con floor for our final rounds and plan to meet up at 2:30 pm at the bus to head back to the hotel. With over a hour left I get a call from Rich about our trip back has been moved up. We rush out of there and get to the airport to find it was JP's schedule that has been changed and not mine or Rich. We have some waiting to do. Our first trip to Salt Lake City goes fine, we get there at about 9:00 pm MST. Its the second trip to Seattle that has been delayed and pushed back. After some changes, it gets pushed back to 1:40 am MST. It would not be so back, with a book to read or my PSP to play. But I had picked up a bug from Rich or JP and I felt like crap and did not feel like doing anything. The plane left some time after 2:00 am MST and got to Seattle 3:00 am PST. My dad picked me and Rick up, droped him off at his house, then drove Rich home and then got myself home at about 4:40 am PST. Droped everything on the ground and crashed out till past noon time. That day mostly sucked.

Some Comic-Con info I found out.

22 days till the convention.

1. There will be a FedEx or UPS (not sure at this time) in the convention center. Big items or some posters you don't want tote back home. Just send them back home.
2. Pack with one carry on, unpack at the hotel and have a empty bag for the convention.

Thinking about ...

I was recalling unpacking from my New York trip, I had purchased a mini snow globe and had packed it in the main bag and not the carry on, big mistake. The globe broke. I had wraped up, but only in paper.

My New York Trip

To start out, I want to say blisters are something you do not want to get on a vacation where you walk most of the time.

Day 1 (my first full day) Friday
- I went to Madame Tussauds of New York.
- Better Burger with Kate before meeting up with Chad at the Comedy Club.
- That night me, Chad nad Kate went to Gotham Comedy Club. Some funny stuff.

Day 2 - Saturday
- Museum of the City of New York
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Day 3 - Sunday
- Monty Python's Spamalot at Sam S. Shubert Theatre
“We dine well here in Camelot, we eat ham and jam and spam a lot.” The Knights of the Round Table come to Broadway to search for the Holy Grail.
- Dinner at Churrascaria Plataforma
The meat cutters are the Bruce Lee of skewering. One by one they parade around at your table, skewer in hand, with a variety of meat.

If that is not enough, Plataforma will grace you with the surprise of the day; a whole salmon, and even an entire roasted suckling pig makes its round about the dining room on a cart to be carved at your table side.

Day 4 - Monday
- Guggenhei Museum, was having a exterior restoration and did not have a main exhibition. With little to see there we went other places.
- We hit a few of the local stores in the area, first one being the Apple Store off of 5th Ave. Its a big glass cube. You go into the front of the cube, I took the stairs down to a huge store space with every Apple product.
- Next was the Disney Store also off of 5th Ave. Four floors of Disney products with great displays.
- Last was food at Carnegie Delicatessen & Restaurant. Large sandwichs.

Day 5 - Tuesday
- The Cloisters
The Cloisters, the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe, was assembled from architectural elements, both domestic and religious, that date from the 12th through the 15th centuries. The building and its cloistered gardens—located in Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan—are treasures in themselves, effectively part of the collection housed there.

Day 6 - Wednesday
Did some shoping: Toys R Us, Virgin Megastore, and other stores.
And finished the night with dinner at Dallas BBQ.

Check out my trip pictures.

Sleeping in ...

Being a day off, most people will sleep in. But today (Thanksgiving Day) workers are continuing to prep/paint the apartment units that I live in. Its not a good thing to wake up with someone scarping off paint off the outside bedroom window. Its just like the day before my New York trip, I took off to rest and finish any last minute items. That day the roof redone. It sounded like people running around on the roof, ok, maybe they weren't running, they were walking.
This also brings up the actual trip to New York, the city was taking down a building in the downtown area. They can not just blow it up, being downtown and all. They had to take it down by jack hammer and other tool. It good to wake up with the pounding of a jack hammer at 7:30 pm. Of course you don't need to sleep in on a vacation, you need to be up, visit and see the sights.
This is my rave for today.

Day 5: Fiddler on the Roof

Today me and Chad saw Fiddler on the Roof with Harvey Fierstein and Rosie O'Donnell in the Minskoff Theature. This is the last day in New York for the next day I head home.

Total distance walked today: 2.17 miles (5470 steps)

Day 4: The Family Visit

Today we went to see Kate's parents. First the tickets were bought, then there was the hour and a half bus ride to Jackson in New York.

We talked for a time, visited some and talked about the wedding.

Dinner was served.

Total distance walked today: 1.19 miles (3007 steps)

Day 3: Out on the town

While my parents do their own things, me and Chad went via subway to pick up Benjamin.

Here is the street he lives on.A great view from the Rockefellr Tower's observation deck.

We had some time to visit the Whitney and then we headed back to Chad's appartment.

Total distance walked today: 4.9 miles (12418 steps)