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10. RolePlaying

Wow I need to really kick it up a notch on my posting if I am going to make 200 posts by the end of the year. Ok that being said back to the topic of this post.

This past Sunday we had our second Star Wars RPG game take place, and I was please with its outcome. We had a change in a couple players from the previous week, but I excepted that. In fact I except it to continue until we settle into a regular group. When I started my Shadowrun group we went through half a dozen players coming and going before we finally settled down and got a regular group. This kind of thing happens for a number of different reasons.

1. Personalities - This is a very big thing when it comes to putting a group together. When people RPG, some (not all) tend to play the kind of character/person they wish they could play in real life. This tends to be jerk like characters who really dont work well in a group settings. I am not sure why this happens but it makes the whole group dynamic very hard. For example when we first started playing Shadowrun we had a player who came out for maybe a half dozen games. He had two characters that he played in those six games. The first was an anti social character who lived in a school bus. One day during a game two other players went over to the school bus to wake up this personas character. If they didn't do this the player would be left out of the game. When they got there the player attacked them. When I asked why he was doing that he said "because they woke me up". As you can imagine this did not go over very well, and eventually he left the group and never came back.

Getting a good group together can sometimes take a little bit of work and sometimes people just dont mesh.

2. GM Style - Every Game Master has a different style. Some GM do everything they can to kill their players. Some enjoy a lot of combat, some like puzzles, stories, etc. The list is very long. Just like GM's all have a different style all players have a certain type of GM they are looking for. The way I GM is very story heavy, with some good combat and a few puzzles thrown in here and there. I also expect my players to actually role play their characters. Nothing drives me crazy more then when a player tells me what he says to the player sitting right next to him. I want him to turn to that player and actually have the conversation not have it through me. This style does not work for everyone, and I can appreciate that. Doesn't mean I am going to change the way I GM, but I can sympathies knowing that I am not going to meet the needs of every hopeful player who comes to my table. It just means they need to keep looking till they find that perfect GM.

3. Time - This can be the hardest part of putting a group together. Dealing with time and schedules. I have a lot of players in my group who would love to come out every single week, but cant because of family, work, personal commitments etc. Dealing with time can be a huge hurdle for many players.

These are just a few of the reasons putting a good group together can be a process, but I am looking forward to seeing what our group turns out to be in Star Wars after we have done some of the sifting. Stay turned for more details.

9. Star Wars RPG

This afternoon I am going to be running a Star War RPG Game. I have never run a Star Wars game before, but I have been a player in one. I am a little concerned about the outcome of this afternoons game for a few different reasons.

1. To date there are 5 people RSVP for the game, and I have never met one of them. Having new players show up to a game is always a hit or miss experiance. When I started my RPG Group online it took a couple of months to collect enough members and create a solid consistent group that would show up every week. For the most part we play Shadowrun, but recently I tried to encourage other games as well, and it was met with only marginal success. The problem with starting a new game is you have to continue showing up rain or shine, people or no people until you get a solid group of players. Given that I already am GM for Shadowrun, a player in a Serenity RPG, and our weekly WoW meetup is done at my house every week, Im am concerned with how much energy I will have for another game.

2. I have no idea what kind of characters my players are going to play. Why is this important? It makes a big deal when writing the adventure. If all my p[layers are playing Sith then I dont want to write an adventure for Jedi and Vise Verse.

3. From the conversation we have had on our online forum board I dont think any of the players RSVP have ever played Star Wars before. Which means the first few sessions will be a learning game session with a lot of book referencing.

All in all I am excited but concerned about how the game will go. More to follow afterward.

8. GPS Navigation

Several years ago I bought a standard Garmin GPS device to use in my car. At the time I was working for a company that required I practically lived out of my car, so it seemed a good investment. Despite all the ads and opinions that a GPS device is only good for a year (Its true I know of at least 3 people who buy a new GPS device EVERY year. This is due to the fact that the map updates are almost as expensive as the GPS device itself. You can buy a GPS device for a little over 100.00, and map updates are anywhere from 50-100.00.) this GPS device has lasted several years and is continuing to run perfect.

I have wanted to buy Terra a new GPS for awhile. She doesn't have one and there have been times that it would have been very helpful to her. As I thought about it I decided to look into the idea of using some software on my Iphone to act as my GPS device and give Terra my old GPS. As I struck out onto the internet reviewing different apps the two that I thought would be the best were Tom Tom and AT&T Navigator. They were the most expensive, both costing a little over 50-60 dollars, they both came from "reputable and established" companies, and supposedly had the most stable operating platforms out there. All of this I found out from the official websites for the app or off the app description page. Imagine my surprise when I started reading the reviews. They were horrible for both systems! Both apps seemed to be riddled with problems.

Now I was at a loss because I really didn't know where to look. Anyone who has ever been on the Apple App Store knows there are tons of apps for almost any subject. Trying to go through all of them can be a somewhat daunting task. So to help me I decided opinion of others mattered and I looked at the top 10 most downloaded navigation apps. The number one App was called Motion X and cost .99 cents. I looked at the description and the App was a basic GPS turn by turn navigation software. The software would work for just the .99 cents but if you wanted voice prompts and traffic you needed to pay a 20.00 annual fee. This seemed to good to be true, so I jumped to the reviews. I was stunned when I found that EVERY SINGLE review was a 5 start positive rating! That decided it. I quickly bought the app paid the 20.00 and Terra and I jumped into the car to go out. As we were driving I had my "new" GPS take us to our location and it worked like a charm. Anyone with the Iphone should seriously consider this App!

7. Calvin and Hobbs

Here is an interview with the creator of Calvin and Hobbs. What a great comic to read. I didn't always feel this way however. When I was young many people said I was a lot like Calvin. I didn't have a lot of friends, I enjoyed boxes, playing in the creek or field, I had a tree house that I had built, I also had put together a VERY shoddy club house on the side of our house one year as well, and at some point in my childhood my parents gave me a stuffed tiger that I named Hobbs.

My parents were the ones who introduced me to Calvin and Hobbs, and when I first read the comic I was not a fan. My parents tell the story that I walked into their room one night and said that I didn't understand why they liked Calvin and Hobbs because he was so rude. About 1.2 seconds later my parents were laughing so hard they couldn't even respond. Eventually I came around and grew to love that comic strip. Most afternoons when I was in high school I would come home from school, pour myself a glass of milk, get out the chips and ranch dip and spend maybe 30 minutes snacking while I read Calvin and Hobbs. We had every single book ever put out and after many many years of use they were well read.

When Terra and I got married my parents got me the complete collection of Calvin and Hobbs. This has made several friends very jealous, but I am willing to share.

Sometimes I like to think of the comic Zits as Calvin all grown up, but even Zits cant replace Calvin and Hobbs.

6. Some Random Thoughts

So even though I had to drag myself out of bed this morning and force myself every step of the way into the office, it turned out to be a good day. I got a ton of work done and dont feel as behind the 8 ball as I did yesterday.

Terra is in HI right now and I will confess I am VERY jealous! But I am glad she could go and get some sun. At least one of should be able to.

I am working on trying to find a way to make it out to the east coast for the KOFL ABM. While I am not actively participating with the KOFL anymore, it would be very nice to get out of the rain and spend a few days with friends. There are a few factors that are making getting out there difficult, but am hopeful I can put something together. I think I just need to get out of the rain.

Terra and I talked about going to Rome this year. I am ALL for a trip of some kind. I am hoping we can maybe put something on paper when she gets back.

Tonight I am planning on going home and working out, and then watching Burn Notice. With season three back up and running I am enjoying the show once again!

So there just a few thought before I head home.

5. Christmas 2009

As much as Terra and I had concerns about Christmas this year it turned out to be a very nice holiday. I have always enjoyed Christmas. It is my second favorite holiday (Halloween being the first), and come Christmas Eve I always start to feel like a kid again. This year I let my excitement get the better of me and started wanting to open presents on Christmas Eve. Terra was very patient with me and asked that we wait till Christmas. So at 6:00AM I was wide awake and she again very patiently asked me to go back to sleep.

Once we got up we passed presents back and forth which was new for me. In my family we have generally just dived in and wrapping paper flew everywhere. It was only AFTER everything was opened that we saw what everyone else got. Even though this was different for me I liked passing gifts back and forth.

I was a little disappointed that I couldn't get Terra anything that was a huge surprise. She knew about most of her gifts for one reason or another. This doesn't mean she didn't like what I got her, but I do like surprising her, and I didn't feel I got to do that this year.

One funny thing that happened was over breakfast. My family has a tradition that we hang a wreath over the table and hang small but nice gifts from the wreath. I have always liked this tradition and asked if we could continue this tradition in our own home. Terra said we could and when the time came to open the wreath gifts we discovered that neither one of us had picked a good present for the other and both gifts needed to be exchanged. But we both laughed about it and had fun going to the store.

Over all Christmas was a good holiday this year and I am looking forward to many more to come.

4. How Old Do You Think She Is?

So Terra got her Victoria Secret Swimsuit Catalog today and this picture was on the cover. How old do you think she is?

3. The Difference Between Men and Women

So many of you might have noticed on Face-book today that many of your female friends seemed to be randomly posting colors in their status updates. I saw many colors today including pink, red, plain old boring white, black, purple and gold, etc. What all the guys didn't know is someone started an email chain asking women to post the color of their bra in order to raise awareness for breast cancer.

While I support any and all efforts to cure breast cancer, this little idea of awareness got me thinking about how big the differences between Men and Women are. What would people say if men on face-book starting posting the type, and or color of their underwear in order to promote prostate cancer awareness? What about the t-shirts and car magnets that say save the Ta Ta's. What if men were to wear similar shirts or pass out magnets that said Save the penis?

Somehow I am thinking that this would be considered socially wrong. So my question is why is it ok for women to do such things and men cant? Am I wrong in my assumption? Could men do things like this and it be considered socially acceptable? If it is not socially acceptable then why?

2. Repeat After Me

I will never complain about my job again
I will never complain about my job again
I will never complain about my job again

1. 2010 Goals

Well 2010 is here, and I am left wondering where 2009 went. While I am happy to see 2009 die I am grateful for the experiences I had in 2009, and plan on taking the lessons of 2009 and using them to make 2010 the best year of my life to date. Now I know this sounds like a lot of "New Years Resolution BS", but it really is not. I have some very specific ideas for what I want 2010 to look like and I have already started working on making those ideas a reality. Here are a few of the things I am working to accomplish in 2010.

1. My number one goal is to work on bettering my relationship with my wife. As some of you know 2009 was a very hard year for us. Specifically 2009 was a hard year on her due to many poor decisions on my part. So my hope is to make 2010 the best year of our marriage so far. She has put a great deal of trust in me and I dont want that trust to be misplaced.

2. I have been working on writing a book for about a year now, and I have decided that I will finish the book in 2010. The story of this book has been in my head for several years now. I can remember as a child acting out some of the scenes from this story in my head when I would play with my toys. Over the years the story became more detailed and about a year ago I started putting several parts of it on paper. The story is science fiction and while I may or may not be able to publish it professionally I will at least have a finished copy by this time next year. Once I finish the book I will be trying to publish it, but I dont know if I will self publish or publish professionally.

3. Since I plan on finishing my book I know that I will need to practice my writing. So I have made a goal to do a bare minimum of 200 blog posts this year. This post being number one. I have also been asked to be a writer on blog called The Brain Bomb. While this blog is currently in production and not ready for viewers I will hold off on posting a link, but when the site is up and running I will.

4. This may seem like a small goal, but a couple years ago I started making my own chain mail shirt. While I am not doing live steel fighting anymore I would like to finish this project. What I do with the shirt after I am done is up in the air, but I do want to finish it.

5. I want to find at least 100 Geocaches by the end for the year.

6. I plan on joining a beginners hockey team once I gather up all the gear I need. The local ice rink sells everything I will need, but I plan on getting a list a hitting a play it again sports or ebay.

I am looking forward to 2010, it looks like its going to be a great year.

Help Us Name Our Dog

Close to our house is a very nice animal shelter that Terra and I have visited every saturday for the last couple months. Both of us have wanted to get a new dog, and have been disappointed by not being able to find that perfect dog for us. There were several times that one of us liked a dog, but not the other, a few times we both liked a dog, but the dog didn't like cats, and then once or twice we both liked a dog, but it was too big.

On Christmas Eve I decided to stop into the shelter to have a look around, and I saw the dog in my pictures. She was perfect! She liked toys, didn't want anything to do with cats, was close to the right weight, and was a beautiful dog. I liked her so much that I put a hold on her right away. I called Terra and told her she needed to drop what she was doing and come to the shelter. Terra too liked the dog, and after some trouble with our apartment complex we brought her home today.

Now here is the problem. What do we name her? Below are some choices we have come up with. Vote by posting a comment either on this blog in the comments section, on facebook, or on twitter. We will tally the results and our dog will be named.

1. Goldie
2. Kess
3. Kira
4. Uhura
5. Seven of Nine (Seven for short)
6. B'Elanna

Some of these shots were hard to get she hasnt stopped moving since she got home.

David and Marysol's Visit

So about a year ago my friend Marysol called me with an idea. Marysol is married to one of my best friends David. The three of us severed our missions together in the California Ventura mission. David was my trainer, and we have stayed friends ever since. So anyways Marysol called me with an idea. Davids birthday is December 15, and according to Marysol he has always felt his birthday took second place to Christmas. I can understand this because my sister has the same birthday and she feel the same way. So the idea was she and David would fly down for his birthday and it would be a total surprise to David. So for almost a year she and I kept this secret, and David NEVER knew. What was funny was about a week before he and Marysol were to be flying in I talked to David and he was telling me what his "plans" were for his week off. Little did he know those "plans" would not be happening.

So once they got here we had a great time. We spent a good deal of time in Seattle going to the aquarium and the Bodies Exhibit. I dont have any pictures of the Bodies exhibit because they dont allow cameras inside. Going to see Bodies was very interesting. What I found interesting was out of around a dozen full bodies they were all male except one female. When I pointed this out to Terra at first she didn't notice and then she also thought it was odd.

While we were at the aquarium we watched an octopus being fed and that was very cool. Terra really enjoyed the otters and wondered aloud if she could have one as a pet. After the aqaurium we had dinner at Fishermans. This was a great place to eat. Had some of the BEST food I have had in a VERY long time. Terra and I plan on going back as soon as we can. While we were in Seattle we saw several

Merry Christmas

So Christmas morning has come and gone. Well technically there is still 20 minutes of Christmas morning, but by the time I finish writing this post it will be afternoon. As usual I had trouble sleeping. I have never slept well on Christmas Eve. I love Christmas and am anxious for it to arrive. My very patient wife realized this when at 6:00AM I asked her if she wanted to wake up and go open presents. She said no and we went back to sleep. We finally woke up around 8 and went out into the family room, and opened presents. Terra got me some great gifts and I was very happy with my gifts, and she seemed very happy with her gifts as well. I got her a new Digital SLR camera, and I am looking forward to seeing what she can create with it. Now we are sitting out in the living room enjoying time together.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Ice Skating Trip

Terra and I decided to go ice skating a few nights ago. While we were driving there we passed by what looked like a neighborhood filled with Christmas lights. I love looking at Christmas lights, and did a quick u-turn. When we got back to the neighborhood we found out it was actually a park filled with all sorts of lights. We paid our entrance fee and spent about 45 minutes driving through the park looking at some very cool lights.

After we looked at lights we headed to the ice rink and had a great time. The ice probably could have used a smoothing over, but all the same it was fun. Terra tried to get me to fall down a couple times because as she said she wanted me to do something funny. I did not follow through with her request and stayed up the whole time.

Come January Terra and I are planning on taking some classes at the rink. Terra will be taking some figure skating lessons, and I am joining a beginners hockey team.

I have gone through my blackberry and camera and found a lot of videos and pictures that I took. Most of these pictures and videos I took for the purpose of my blog, but for one reason or another I never did. So I am starting at the beginning and planning on moving through all these videos and pictures. I hope you all enjoy.

The two movies below are two videos I took at Dragon*Con

Our Teenager of a Cat

So we have had to start keeping Spock out of the bedroom during the day. Spock really likes being in the bedroom underneath our bed, and he can stay there for hours at a time. While he is social with Terra and myself, he is not social with other people. So in an effort to help him we are locking the bedroom door and keeping him out in the main living area. He does NOT like this plan at all! He will sulk around the bedroom door pining away hoping someone will open it for him. It reminds me of a sullen teenager wanted to hide out in his bedroom all day because no one understands him. I am hoping after a few weeks Spock will get more comfortable being out of the bedroom, and hopefully be less skittish. We are only on day two.

This morning I was going through my normal Monday tasks, when I got an email advising me of a new standard going into effect January 1, 2010. With the new year right around the corner I decided to read the regulation. The regulation is on reporting equipment incidents to the FRA. In the regulation an incident is defined in the following words.

"A "rail equipment accident/incident" is a collision, derailment, fire, explosion, act of God, or other event involving the operation of railroad on-track equipment (standing or moving) that results in damages to railroad on-track equipment, signals, tracks, track structures, or roadbed."

Does anyone else see something strange about this definition?

So I need some suggestions a possibly some help. I know this is early, but I am wondering what my costume should be at Dragon*Con. See I have two of the three days taken care of. One is a surprise, and the other, well Terra convinced me to dress Ang from the The Last Avatar show. She assures me this will get some smiles from my nieces. She has been asking to paint the blue arrow on my head every day since then. I keep telling her to go ahead and she never does.

Anyways this leaves a third days up in the air. I thought my group was going as a Steam Punk Pirate group, but that doesn't seem to be working out. So here is my question what should I go to Dragon*Con as?

Nazi Zombies

So I have some friends over and we are playing Nazi Zombies. I have found that this game is very soothing. Mostly because I can take out my frustrations of the day out on mass quantities of zombies.

World of Warcraft used to fill the void of killing things for relaxation. One of my friends has never played this game, and I think they are hooked. On their second try they made it to level 11. Which if you have never played before thats really good!