Next on the reading list

 Here is the tome I'm reading (at home) now.

It is The Annotated Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It has a page count of 1312. It is a big, bulky book. But let's look inside, shall we...

You'll notice that about half of each page is just a margin. On this particular pair of pages (which I have not reached yet) we see two annotations printed in the margins. Would anyone have ever guessed?
What this book is for me is a trip back in time. It is one the first fantasy books/series I ever read, The Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy, annotated by the above mentioned Weis and Hickman (among others). I was introduced to these books by a friend probably in 7th grade. I can't remember how much fantasy I had read before this but it wasn't all that much.
I had certainly read The Hobbit. And I had probably at least tried to read The Fellowship of the Ring. (It took me a couple of tries.) My parents had read The Chronicles of Narnia to my brothers and I as younger children (which was the real beginning of my love of fantasy). And I can't remember if I read The Dragon King Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead (which lead into other novels by him) before or after Dragonlance Chronicles, probably after. Like I said, it wasn't that much. I've read much more since then.
Anyway, I'm about 100 pages into the first book of the trilogy, Dragons of Autumn Twilight. It isn't the greatest prose ever but it is entertaining. And most of the annotations are pretty interesting either giving insight into the authors' thoughts or talking about how they are foreshadowing future events in the series.
I've also started the next book in the Horus Heresy series, Battle for the Abyss. It is actually pretty disappointing so far. One of the interesting things about this series is that each of the books is written by one of a group of authors. The previous book was written by one of the best authors of the series and the drop off to this book is easily apparent. This same author wrote the 3rd book in the series and I don't remember that one being particularly bad. But for some reason this one is just kind of rubbing me the wrong way. I'm about 30% in and hopefully it will pick up soon.

Beer and Gaming

One good pour and one poor of Delerium Tremens from Belgium (not to be confused with delerium tremens.)
It is difficult for me to come up with a better plan for the evening than Belgian beer and Dominion with my lovely wife. She's beaten me the first two games (the second one on a tiebreaker.) That added to the effects of the 9% alcohol beer has led her to start singing a song with the lyrics "I am unbeatable, I am unbeatable tonight!" 
We've taken a break to have some dinner.

Home Improvement

Finally! We're taking down a couple of the useless phones we have up in our house. One from the master bathroom and one from the kitchen. Check out the manufacture date of the one on the right. May of 1986! Now it is off to Home Depot for some blank wall plates.

Reading list

I've been a reader all my life. I love reading. I love both finding out new things and traveling to different worlds.
Toward the end of my time out in Montana I wasn't reading as much as I used to. I brought the lack of habit back with me to Minnesota. But then a few years ago I started back up on a big reading kick. I mainly started to read over lunch at work.
I know some people say that you're not supposed to eat alone and you're supposed to connect and network over lunch. But I found I really enjoyed that 30-45 minutes of peace to myself in the middle of a hectic day. Reading was the perfect activity to accompany that time. And so I started reading a lot of books a half hour at a time. It soon made its way back home where I started reading before bed again.
I also started reading two or three different books at a time. One at work and one at home and then maybe some other one thrown in somewhere. The reason was simple: I didn't want to forget a book somewhere and not have something to read.
Since Junior High I mostly read fantasy. But a couple years ago Allison and I were at a book sale and I saw a bunch of classics that I had never read for $1 a piece. I bought a bunch of them and they got me on a classics kick.

So here is an incomplete list of what I've read over the last few years, not in chronological order. I think my favorite book is The Count of Monte Cristo. Just an amazing book

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe 
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin (fantasy)
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (abridged) by Edward Gibbon
The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky
War and Peace by Tolstoy
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Books 1-7 of the Horus Heresy (SciFi series) -- I just finished book 7 today
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
Texas by James A. Michener
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, and The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie (fantasy)
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Top o' the MOA to ya!

Looking towards St Paul from level 7 East parking at the Mall of America.
Even the top levels of parking are nearly full. Something is going on today but I have no clue what it is.

Lunch at Burger Moe's

Juicy Moe with fries and a Left Hand Milk Stout. Can't wait to get to the molten center.

RuneWars mid game

We've got tons of dudes on the board. Lots of recriminations are being thrown around. A good time is being had by all.

Start of game night - Rune Wars

I've played this once before and it was long and fun. Definitely looking forward to another go.

Cookie Break

I've twice been the recipient of some wonderful generosity over the last week. I always feels nice and makes me think about the fact that I could act the same way much more often than I do.

I had a great time during Con of the North. A couple of the games I played are new favorites. But the best part by far was really connecting with a couple of the guys I met there. We had a great time no matter if the game was good or bad. Or if we were doing great or poorly in the game.

Anyway, on the first day three of us headed down to the hotel restaurant/cafeteria where they had a taco bar set up. The food was okay, about what you'd expect when you hear the phrase "hotel taco bar". We had eaten our meals and were just sitting there telling stories about games, gamers, and life when the server comes by to ask if and how we want our check.

"Do you want separate checks?"
"Yes..." I started to reply.
"No, I'll take the whole check here," replied my new friend.
The other guy and I looked at him with surprise and asked "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, it's no problem."

So I had my taco bar paid for by a guy I had met 9 hours earlier. I was (we were) very appreciative and it just felt very nice.

Then, yesterday at work a co-worker was sitting at my desk helping me with something I'd hadn't done before when another co-worker pops his head over the cube wall and says:

"Come on, we're going to -----. Cookie break. I'm buying."
We paused our work and have him uncomprehending looks.
"I'm serious, let's go. Now."

So up we got, headed down the elevator, jaywalked across the street, and all picked out a giant cookie to eat. I had mine over the next hour and it totally ruined my dinner. Again, I was totally appreciative and happy to be connecting with my (still relatively new) co-workers.

It doesn't take that much to be "generous." You just have to do something nice and unasked for and maybe unexpected. If it is thoughtful it doesn't matter how small it is, the people you do it for will be appreciative and have a better day for it.

I love riding the bus

As noted in the title, I love riding the bus. I love not having to stress about traffic. I love zipping by the rest of traffic during a snow fall.
But you know what I don't love? The sound of other people clipping their fingernails. I can't stand it. So that's why I was not happy when the dude in the seat in front of me whipped out his clippers and started going to town before I got a chance to put my headphones on this morning.
When you're on the bus everyone else is pretty much a captive audience. Please, don't be a jerk. Take care of your personal hygiene at home.

Urban Sprawl end game

Here is the board at the end of the game except the scoring markers haven't been updated for the bonus scoring at the end. It was very chaotic and epic. We played for maybe 4.5 hours!

CotN Sunday Game 1

The first game of the day is Urban Sprawl which is kind of like a mean SimCity the board game. Fun but chaotic.

Con of the North Day 1 Recap

I had a great time yesterday at Con of the North. I got to see some friends I hadn't seen in a while. I met a whole slew of new people who are fun to game with and I got to try out tons of new games. What follows is the run down.

The first game I played was called Glory to Rome (BoardGameGeek link.) Allison Kickstarted a copy of the new edition of this for my birthday last September. I had a couple of production issues so it hasn't arrived yet and I have been wanting to play it for quite some time. So it was a perfect little game to start the Con with. I really enjoyed it and found it very interesting. I did poorly and got doubled up in points by the winner but am looking forward to playing it again and many times in the future with my own copy.

The next game was Container (BoardGameGeek link.) This is a game I've been wanting to play for a long time. It is a game about producing and shipping goods on the open sea. It is unique in that it is a purely economic game wherein the players set all the prices for anything. One of the large criticisms of the games is that it can come to a grinding halt if the players just price everything incorrectly and don't buy each other's stuff. Thankfully we didn't have that problem in our group and the game was pretty outstanding. For the second game in a row I was trounced pretty soundly but I really enjoyed it.

After Container was Belfort (BoardGameGeek link.) This is a pretty new game about a group of dwarves, elves, and gnomes building a city together and trying to have majority control of different sections of the city. It combines a bunch of different mechanisms I like and I was enjoying myself when I took the picture but by the end of the game it had gotten too same-y and took too long. It was neat, and I can see why it has gotten some of the hype on BoardGameGeek that it's got, but my main complaint is that it just dragged by the end of the game and there weren't enough interesting decisions. As opposed to Container where every decision was important and often agonizing at the same time.

Next up was Walnut Grove (BoardGameGeek link.) As I noted with my picture this game was brutal at the beginning. Now granted, none of us had played and we were just learning and we didn't understand the ramifications of the decisions we were making in the first turn or two, but it was still pretty unforgiving. It is about life in the olden days of the town of Walnut Grove and farming your land, storing you goods in a barn, and using those goods in town to hire more people or buy more structures for your farm. By the end it made a lot more sense to everyone and we were all enjoying it. I actually ended up winning and would love to try this one again. And yes, Walnut Grove is a city in Minnesota. It is home to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum.

Before dinner we played a game called Dragon Rampage (BoardGameGeek link.) This is basically a Yahtzee variant where a party of adventurers has awakened a dragon who starts chasing them out of his cave. You either want to be the first one out of the cave or you want to kill the dragon and hit it the most times. It has lots of randomness and opportunities to screw your neighbor. It takes the right attitude and group to enjoy this game. My side of the table was having a great time. Sadly, the other side was not. The dice were just not working for a couple of people and it really affected what they could do (which ended up not being much) in the game.

After visiting the delicious taco bar we headed back up stairs to start Coney Island (BoardGameGeek link.) This game is about what you probably think it is. You're building up an amusement park area by sending out your promoters and trying to build the biggest attractions. It was fairly interesting but similar to some other games I've played that I think I'd rather play. I'd try it again if a bunch of other people wanted to, but it was only okay.

The last game of the night was Last Will (BoardGameGeek link.) As I noted below, it is basically Brewster's Millions (which is one of my favorite movies from growing up in the 80's) the game. You have all this money that you have to piddle away in order to be worthy of inheriting your rich uncle's real fortune. So you expensive manors and let them become dilapidated and sell them for pennies on the dollar. You take your horse on a boat ride just for the extravagance of it. You throw fancy balls which cost millions of dollars and have nothing to show for it afterward. I came in last (which seemed to be a theme of the day) but had a great time playing (which thankfully was another theme of the day.) I really liked this one and it was a perfect end to my first day at Con of the North.

Last game of the night (?)

Last Will. It is basically Brewster's Millions the game. Very fun.

Walnut Grove at CotN

This game is brutal. I guess life was tough in Walnut Grove.

Game #3 at Con of the North-Belfort

So much worker placment-y and area majority-y goodness! I'm doing very poorly but it is fun.

Con of the North game #2

We're playing Container. I don't know exactly what I'm doing but it is super fun.

Temptation and Observation

Just a couple things from today...
I learned that my dog is still not really ready to go out to other people's houses.

Remember the other day when I resisted a free piece of pizza? Well, beyond the occasional pizza I also have to resist drinking an unlimited amount of Mountain Dew every day. We can drink as much pop (yeah, I said it) as we want. And I love Mountain Dew. But it is not good for me. Anyway, you know what I couldn't resist? The chocolate chip cookie dough my wife saved for me in the frig from when she made chocolate chip cookie bars earlier in the day. So good. Thanks hun!

Valentine's Day Dinner

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. Allison and I went out to dinner at a nice little restaurant we had been to once before: Cafe Levain in south Minneapolis. It is connected to Turtle Bread (which we love for lunch) and we really enjoyed it the first time.
First of all we had a lovely time being together and people watching. That is always enjoyable. But the rest of the experience...well, we'll get to that.

I had made a reservation so when we arrived at 7pm we were seated immediately. The restaurant was mostly full, but not completely. We were seated in what Allison called "the 7 o'clock row" as it was empty when we got there and filled up soon after.
And then we waited. And waited some more. And watched servers mill about and water boys weave by our table to fill other patrons' water glasses. Finally, about 25 minutes after arriving a guest whose water was being refilled pointed the employee toward our table. The hostess who had seated us finally came over and told us a server would be right with us. How novel! Water was finally brought out with some bread and butter. I mentioned that the restaurant is connected to Turtle Bread whose bread I really enjoy. So I was looking forward to the "bread course." I should not have been.
With ample time to peruse the menu and special Valentine's tasting menu we were ready to order as soon as our server showed up. I wasn't in the mood for small talk with her. Along with a carafe of the house red we ordered the tasting menu. We figured it was a special night and there were things on it that we likely wouldn't normally order.
After our wine the amuse-bouche came surprisingly quickly. It was a small dish of beet soup with creme fraiche and crispy beet shavings on top. It was quite good and I thought that maybe the food would redeem the service thus far.
The first course was a warm kale salad. It was charred kale on top of a mustard vinaigrette with parsnip crisps on top. I'm sure it was prepared well...but maybe I just don't like kale. And the vinaigrette had no bite whatsoever. Which was a bit of a surprise seeing as though it was mustard based. The parsnip crisps were tasty but I noticed later on in the evening that the parsnip portions had grown considerably compared to when our salads were prepared.
As I mentioned earlier we had a great time being with each other. And we were not necessarily in a hurry, but our initial wait had put any seemingly inordinate amount of time between courses to the forefront of our minds. So we felt every minute of the two hours we were at our table. Especially while waiting for our next course. And remember that disappointing bread I had earlier? Well no one ever came back around to ask if we wanted any more (except for once later) which I would have enjoyed between some of the courses.
Anyway I seem to remember waiting a while to get the second course, which was a polenta dish with lobster. There were a couple of sauces I don't quite remember but the dish was very good. I enjoyed it immensely. Polenta is essentially the Italian version of southern grits, which I have grown to enjoy since marrying a Texan. Instead of hominy polenta is made of cornmeal. The lobster was good as well though I am not as enamored with lobster as many people are.
After that it was another bout of waiting until the third course arrived. This was one that we were both looking forward to. It was a buttered scallop over a bed of braised white beans and a couple of sauces I can't quite remember. The scallop was excellently prepared (confirmed by sea food expert Allison) and very tasty. The beans on the other hand...I don't know if braised beans are supposed to taste like they aren't quite cooked all the way...but they tasted like there weren't quite cooked all the way. Also, as Allison pointed out, the textures of both the second and third courses were both way too similar. The beans didn't work for us at all.
Now that I think about it I do actually remember the time between the third and fourth courses being especially long because I remember our dirty plates sitting there for quite some time. They had actually been very good about clearing our dishes away after we were done, but not with this one.But oh well, I was looking forward to what was coming next. Of course our server couldn't help but screw it up a little more by finally asking if we wanted more bread and then promptly forgetting to get us any.
Finally it was time for the main course and what I had been looking forward to: the short ribs. This is the dish that Allison had had on our previous dinner and they had been divine. So I didn't repeat the mistake of ordering the tenderloin and also ordered the short ribs. They did not disappoint. It was perfectly prepared and served over pureed potatoes and roasted mushrooms. Sadly I can't describe them adequately but I'd heartily recommend them to anyone who eats beef.
After scraping the last drop of sauce off of my plate with the last bit of beef we only had the dessert course left and it was a doozy. It was a dark chocolate mousse with chocolate ice cream over a white chocolate fondue and sprinkled with chocolate cookie crumbs. I enjoyed every single bite.

After that we paid the bill (which was taken care of quite expeditiously I might add) and headed out into the falling snow...as I mentioned, two hours after we arrived. Was it all worth it?

Well, lets examine a few things. The experience definitely had its high points. The short ribs and dessert were outstanding. According to Allison the scallop was also excellent. I thought it was very good but the dish was seriously marred by the beans. The polenta dish was good but nothing I'd order again and the kale salad was sub par as far as I'm concerned.
Then of course was the service. Yikes. It was quite poor. I can't remember anything about the service from our first trip (which probably means it was good) but I cannot recommend this restaurant to anyone for a busy night like Valentine's.
Then there was the bill. What does one go out to "fancy" restaurants for? For what does one pay more than one normally would for dinner? Excellent food and excellent service...at least compared to what one is accustomed to.
For the two tasting menus and carafe of wine our bill came to $160 + tip. This was not a $160 meal/experience. We've had a couple of dinners in that price range and they were memorable and pleasurable through and through. This one obviously was not. I know I would have been happier had I just ordered the french onion soup (which I had had the previous trip and it was superb) and short ribs. And Allison would have been happy with the mussels (also excellent) and short ribs. We could have had that with wine and dessert for a cool $80-90 and been done in an hour.

All in all it was a wonderful evening because of the company. I never mentioned the ambiance, which was very nice. It is a cute little place. But the food and service, the main selling points of such an establishment, were not what we were hoping for.

We'll probably return one day, but not for quite some time, and certainly not for a special occasion.

Free pizza usually tastes great

But today I don't know for sure.
There is some leftover pizza just sitting there in the lunch room...right now!
Normally I'd be all over it because hey...free pizza! But today I was able to steel myself and refuse to give in to temptation. I had already eaten lunch and I could stand to lose a few pounds. In that case, I decided, free wasn't necessarily the best deal.

Let's start with a test

As I am every weekday morning, I'm on the bus on my way to work. I set up my new blog this morning but didn't have time to write up a first post before I had to rush out the door. So I'm trying a post through email first to see how/if it works and secondly to have something on my home page.

Come back later and I hope to have a post written about the dinner I had last night. Allison and I went out for Valentine's Day. How good was it?