It dawns on me I've been sadly neglecting this journal for the better part of a while now.  I keep meaning to throw something up here, but can never think what that might be.

So, a brain dump:

The last few months have been stressfull, and much of a learning experience.  Lost my job back in June, and have yet to find gainful employment.  I've picked up some volunteer work to keep me busy, and have had a few close shots at interesting sounding jobs, but nothing's panned out.

The kids are doing well, and growing into astonishingly interesting people.  The Boy is currently obsessed with Knights, Vikings and monsters.  No idea where he gets that from.

Gaming-wise, it's been slim pickings this year.  A bit of old school "Swords & Wizardry" over the summer (two sessions) and I've run a little bit of Dragon Warriors off and on over the last few months.  I'm planning an "All Flesh Must Be Eaten" game for DunDraCon in February.

My current obsession gaming-wise of course, is HeroQuest.  It is simply one of those games which just screams out to be played.  The ideas are coming fast and furiously for it, and I'm hoping to devote some time to running it in the new year. 

And this is one of the cool things I like about HeroQuest. I know people always say about GURPS "You can do anything with it".  But I actually feel that way about HQ.  And not just that you can do anything with it, but you could have a crazy idea for a whacko campaign (I've got one for a game in which all the PCs are wolves in a complex animist/shamanistic society) in the afternoon, and be running it that evening. You don't have to worry about statting up monsters, or opponents or any of the tedious book keeping crap common to many other generic systems.

You just come up with an idea, and go.

So, there's a quick wrap-up of what's been going on in my life over the last few months.  I'll make an attempt to post more in the future.  Which I'm sure you're all looking forward to.

As most of you know, I've been dealing with chronic lower back pain for about the last three years (ever since the Big Backyard Remodel of '06-'07).  My back has 'gone out' on me (to the point where I was having trouble walking, driving, etc. without severe discomfort) at least two or three times a year in that period, and the low-level pain has been pretty much constant the whole time.  I've probably been single-handedly keeping Advil in business...  Over the last few months, I've been in the habit of changing Katie's diapers on my knees, because bending over her that long was excruciating.
 
I've done physical therapy, chiropractic, exercise, walking more, changed all my shoes, everything I could think of that would help.  Mostly nothing did for the long-term.

Over the last week or so, I spent a lot of time 'looking inward' and trying to localize where the pain was, and then pay attention to that area.  It's always been focused mostly on my lower spine and hip, on the right side.  When I thought about that, I started thinking about things I do that might aggravate that area of my body.  One other thing I've always known, is that the pain is always worse in the morning.

Specifically, one thing I realized was that I always sleep on my right side, and use a 'body pillow' which I was told years ago might help.

A couple of nights ago, I decided to see about changing that.  I ditched the body pillow, and tried sleeping on my back instead of on my side.  Additionally, I put a pillow under my knees to elevate them slightly. 

The next morning, I woke up to a significant reduction in pain.  By last night, I couldn't feel it at all (which, believe me is an astounding feeling, when I've had some level of pain in that area for three years).  Tried the same thing last night, and when I woke up this morning, there was barely any pain/soreness in the area at all.

So, anyway, I'm going to keep this up for a while.  Couple it with the exercise, etc. and see how far it gets me.  Keep your fingers crossed for me; I may finally be out of the woods on this one!  Still going to try and avoid any heavy-lifting for a while, but things feel like they're getting back on track.

Last night, El Guapito was playing with some of his Star Wars toys.  Note: he's not seen the movie, but I had some toys lying around I received as a joke birthday gift, so gave them to him.  The following conversation occurred:

El Gupito: "Papa, are Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader friends?"

Me: "Ummm... no... not exactly."

El Guapito: "Is Princess Leia Luke Skywalkers wife?"

Me: "No.  She's his friend."

Beth: "No, honey, she's his sister."

Me: "Dude! Spoiler!"

Beth: "Oh, he's three, get over it."

Me: "You just totally gave away, like a major plot point in the series.  He's gonna see them someday, you know."

Beth:  "You are a total dork."

Me: "Like you didn't know that when you married me."

From an IM conversation earlier:

Ben Monroe
11:46
Holy shit, dude...
we still have the Klan?  http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/26/hate.groups.report/index.html?eref=rss_latest
I totally thought they were gone

Alastair Sutherland
11:47
I had the most awesome plan if there was ever a Klan rally near me, which sadly/fortunately is not the case.

Ben Monroe
11:47
?

Alastair Sutherland
11:47
Get a bunch of people dressed up as clowns for a counter-protest, throwing pies and squirting seltzer bottles at them.

Ben Monroe
11:47
nice

Alastair Sutherland
11:48
They love the conflict, as it kind of validates their position.  But clowns?  It totally negates them.

Ben Monroe
11:48
right

Alastair Sutherland
11:49
Yeah, you can't be serious if CLOWNS are running around you with their big squeeze-bulb "a-oooga" horns and such.

Ben Monroe
11:49
ha1
dude
You almost made me choke on my stew

Alastair Sutherland
11:49
you're welcome.

Ben Monroe
11:49
I thnk I've got a pea logded in my sinus
fucker
can't
stop
laughng

Alastair Sutherland
11:50
glad I could brighten your day. 

You ever have that experience when someone says something and explains exactly how you've been feeling, but haven't been able to express it yourself?

Chris Pramas just totally did that for me:  http://freeport-pirate.livejournal.com/116364.html

Aside from the stuff about chop-sockey movies and anime, this just totally nails how I've been feeling about my hobbies lately (substitute shitty slasher movies and horror comics, I suppose and you've got it).

(Thanks to Jason D. for pointing this out to me.)

So, I'm at the gym the other day.  The workouts have been going great, by the way.  I'm getting my endurance back and already starting to notice some real results.

Anyway, so I'm done with my workout, and getting changed back into my street clothes.  I'm getting up to leave, and turn around to walk out of the changing room, and there's this naked guy, just got out of the shower, and he's using the air-blower hand dryers to dry off his pecker.

My first thought was "That really flies in the face of the whole 'air dryers are more sanitary than paper towels' sticker..."

The last few weeks have been odd ones for me.  I feel that I've been becoming increasingly introspective of late, and doing a lot of thinking about 'what's next' in my life.  In many ways, I feel like career-wise, I've gotten so off-track; so far from the wide-eyed dreams of film making, writing and storytelling of my youth.  Not that I'm regretting the choices I've made in my careers over the last ten years or so.  Indeed, they've all been learning experiences in many ways.  It's been a very buddhist experience, in that "Life includes suffering and we must learn to learn from that suffering" sort of way.

Just that lately, I find myself at work, or looking at postings for similar jobs, and finding myself thinking 'is that it?'.  I've been reading a lot more lately.  The usual staples of myth, fantasy and horror (which I feel are so close in scope and theme as to practically be one genre).  Books about writing, books on far away places.  Books of breadth, I suppose.  I feel myself more and more lately wanting to write, but being utterly terrified to start doing so.  My internal critic is constantly poised to stab me in the  back with his red pen of Editorial Death.  "You're not smart enough" he tells me.  "You're not clever enough" he whispers.  "Nobody gives a shit what you have to say" he sneers.

The vicious cycle continues.

Lately, I find that I'm looking at things that have just become habits.  Things I do, and which take up my time, but really give me little pleasure, or sense of fulfillment.  When I write, I'm content.  When I tell stories, I'm excited.  When I entertain my friends and family, I'm happy.

I often find myself thinking 'what would happen if I just let myself do what I enjoy?  If I just stopped doing things which irritate me, and focus on those things which bring me happiness?"  The cynic in me says that nothing will change, or I'll discover that things I thought I enjoyed, I really hate.

Something's got to change.

There's a storm coming...

So, as posted earlier, here's a bit of catch up on my 'goals' for 2009, and what progress I've made:

Have to get my health back:
So, I've found a renewed interest/enjoyment in going to the gym.  I've managed to get in at least two workouts a week since early January (barring last week, when I'd thrown out my back, and was letting it heal up).  Part of this has been due to some soul-searching on my part, and making some personal discoveries about why I'd been avoiding it.  Part of it is having found that the 24 Hour Fitness in Castro Valley, is heads and tails better than the one in San Leandro.  The SL one was just a dump.  Huge, but always dirty, no parking, and they insisted on blasting in music I absolutely hate.  The CV one is smaller, but has all the equipment I need, fewer people (it's always pretty empty when I get there around 8:00 PM) and they keep the music low enough that I can drown it out with my own MP3 player.

So, that's good.  I've really started to hit my stride.  30 minutes of cardio no longer feels like something I have to endure, but something I look forward to.  I've also got the energy after that to do another 30 minutes of weight-training.  Still having to take care of the back, and try not to screw it up again, but it's going well so far.  Feel like I'm really making some progress.

Pick up the pen again:
I've been reading some 'writing theory' books lately.  I'm actually hoping to take them over the weekend, and turn them into something of a self-administered Writing Class.  Break them up into distinct sections and thematic groupings, spread the reading out over a few months, and create a few excercises based on the week's reading.  Could be fun. 

Have fun with my hobbies again: 
Starting as a player in an AD&D 1st edition game next Friday, and very much looking forward to it!  Been painting a lot more lately as well.  I've got some cool ideas for campaigns of various games as well (AD&D, Dragon Warriors, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, and Thousand Suns specifically).  However, I can't imagine I'll find the time to run them any time soon, so I'm just jotting down notes, and hoping to do something with them some day.

Further to that, DunDraCon is next weekend, and I'm stoked for it.  I'll only be going for a day and a half or so, but I'm very much looking forward to it.  I've been to nearly every one (only missed two) since 1984, and it's always a good time.

New job:
This is still in a 'discovery phase' as we like to say in the Web/Marketing biz.  Which is what I'm really trying to get out of, if possible.  I'm currently working on trying to discover something else that interests me, and figure out how to effect this career change.  I've got some ideas, and am doing some legwork to see if they're really viable.

And that's all I've got to say about that.

He called me on my way home last night:

Boss: "What's going on with getting the changes uploaded to (site)?"

Me: "I sent the info to (Designer) but she was having trouble accessing the files.  I'm trying to sort out how to get them to her."

(Note to my loyal readers, I found out that she was having this issue five minutes before I had to leave, so nothing I could do about it last night.)
Boss: "Well, (client, also his daughter) is getting frustrated that these changes aren't live yet."

Me: "That's understandable, and I've let (client) know what we're doing to get this solved."

(Note: the reason we are having this problem, is because my boss has decided to use all freelance designers from now on, and is too cheap to set up a networking solution that will work with PCs; which is what the designer on this project is using.)

Boss: "What do we need to do to get (Designer) access to the network?"

Me: "I don't know.  I didn't set it up, and have never understood it.  She should call (IT Guy who set it up) and get him to walk her through connecting."

Boss: "Can you call her?"

Me: "I'm driving on the freeway, and don't have her number.  I think she should really call (IT Guy)."

Boss: "I'll have her call you."

Me: "Okay, but I'll tell her to call (IT Guy) and I don't have his number handy, since I'm driving."

Boss: "Maybe I should have her call (Completely Not the IT Guy) and see if he can help her."

Me: "He hasn't been able to remotely connect to the network reliably for four months.  She should really talk directly to the (IT Guy)."

Boss: "What if (IT Guy) isn't there?"

Me:  "Then I guess we'll have to sort it out tomorrow when everyone is back in the office." (When what I really wanted to say was: "Then there's nothing that can be done, because he's the only one who knows how to do this!")

Boss:  "Well, can you call her in the morning, and help her get this sorted out?"

Me: "Sure."

Which I did.

Folks....  This is my life.

After that, I picked up the kids  at the day care, and both of them were smiley, and huggy and happy to see me.  It's nice to be appreciated.

When I was a kid, growing up in the SF Bay Area, there was simply no cooler guy than Bob Wilkins. Bob hosted the original "Creature Features" late night monster movie show, as well as the "Captain Cosmic" afternoon show, which featured strange Japanese shows like "Ultraman" "Spectreman" and all sorts of other strangeness.



Needless to say, I was a huge fan of Bob's.  I was a member of the Captain Cosmic Club, and had my cool 'secret decoder card' and everything. As a kid who loved monster movies of all sorts, and back in the pre-VCR-era, Bob's "Creature Features" was a weekly shot of the macabre, and awesome.

I can in all honesty say I would not be the person I am today without his influence.

And so, with great melancholy, I bring news of Bob's passing.  As posted on his official web site:


I wish I'd have had the chance to have met the guy.

Oh, hell yes...



Looks like Romero's back in the saddle again.

So, a few days back, I discussed a bit about my plans for 2009.  Trying not to make any of these sound like "Resolutions"; they're just some goals I've got for the new year.  Figured maybe I'd do a quick 'check in' on my progress so far:

Have to get my health back:
Haven't made a ton of progress here, but I'm trying.  I got a nasty upset stomach after NYE (no, not from drinking) and that scuppered most physical exertion for a few days afterwards.  In the days since, I've renewed my effort to take BART to work, rather than drive.  This is a 'health thing' for me, because it's a ten-block walk from BART to my office.  Also, just trying to make a point of getting up and walking around more during the day.
Also, since the wood pile was getting low, I spent an hour chopping wood over the weekend.  Probably finish off chopping the rest of it this weekend.  Amazed at how good my back felt after doing that.  I was using a modified technique from my martial arts days to chop the wood, using the motion of the "Metal Fist" technique from Hsing-I Chuan, but smacking the wood with an axe, rather than my hand.  Worked well, as always.
Speaking of my Kung Fu days, I'm thinking of starting to take one of the Yoga classes offered at my gym.  I always liked the warm-up, Qi Gong part of the Hsing I and Sil Lum Kung Fu I did, more thatn the punching and ninja-jumping anyway.  I'll give it a shot and see what happens.
That being said, I'm sort of purposefully avoiding the gym right now.  This is the time of the year when everyone's trying to work off their holiday poundage, and making their new year's resolutions, and going to the gym is just a miserable experience.  I'm going to try and get back into a regular routine with that in February, probably.  In the meantime, I'll probably just go on weekend afternoons, or late evenings later in the week, when it's dead.
Wish I had the stamina/fortitude to get up at 5:00 am like my buddy Sean does for his workouts.  But, that's not the case.

Pick up the pen again: 
I've done a bit of brainstorming, but mostly that's been for a Dragon Warriors game I'm running at DunDraCon next month.  I think when I've cleared the plate and can start writing fiction again, I'm just going to start with no plans, nor preconceptions, and see where it takes me.  Generally, I've found I write fiction better when I just go in with a theme or a basic idea and start writing (like the zombie story I wrote a few years ago, which I just started by thinking "I want to write a zombie story".)

Have fun with my hobbies again: 
See above.  I've been painting some minis, prepping for my DW game, and will be starting as a player in a 1st ed AD&D game in a few weeks.

New job: 
Nothing to report, really.  I've been going through my notes on my last job search, seeing what comes up as interesting leads, etc.  Started checking the job boards more frequently, and have been talking to my network of 'contacts' to see what's out there.  Sadly, this is not the greatest economic climate in which to be looking for work.  Also, realizing that I just don't really like the industry I'm in, and want to get as far away from web production/editorial as possible.  Which is also frustrating, because print-based editorial/writing gigs are dying on the vine.  Might start thinking about going into communications, press releases, something like that.  I'm just tired of project management.

That's it for now.  More as it occurs.

Thanks to jdurall for this one.

Man, that went by fast.  Seems like just this time last year, it was 2007, and now it's nearly 2009.  Crazy.

The last week was pretty fab.  Christmas was the best we've had in years.  We just hunkered around the house, opened gifts on Christmas eve, and then had some family over Christmas morning.  I don't even remember what we did on Friday, but Saturday we packed the kids in the car and took them for a toot up around Point Reyes.  El Guapito got to run around, and see the Miwok village which the Girl had helped restore as part of a 4-H project when she was little (she told us all about how they dug the pit for the smoke lodge out with sea shells; I get the impression it wasn't as much fun as it sounded).

At the risk of gloating, the Girl got me some of the best Christmas gifts ever.  We decided to go on a 'reduced budget' this year, and were only going to spend $50 on each other.  She got me all four flavors of Bacon Salt which I'm looking forward to trying.  Already loaded up some scrambled eggs with the "Original" flavor, and it was pretty bacony.  Also, this past Halloween, the Wall St. Journal had an article about the "Top Ten Horror Books Every Fan Should Read".  The usual suspects were represented: Lovecraft, MR James, King, etc.  Surprisingly, one book on the list I'd never read, let alone heard about.  The Girl, being her usual perceptive self, noted that, and I was presented with a copy of "The Green Man" by Kingsley Amis.

El Guapito had a ton of fun playing with his Batcave toy, and associated Bat Man guys which came with it, and La Bonita had much fun drooling on her rainbow-colored teething blocks.

All that, of course, is the material excellence of the holiday.  We had a great time with the family, the Christmas Eve service we attended was excellent, humbling and soulfull (which it should be) and of course included the German "Stille Nacht", which always reminds me of Christmases we spent with my family in Baltimore, attending the Lutheran Church at which my Great Grandfather was once Pastor.

Lots of excellent memories of the last few days.

So, I guess it's time to think about what I'm hoping/planning for in 2009:

• Have to get my health back:  Need to deal with the chronic lower back pain, and find out if my Thyroid medication is the right level (I suspect it's a bit low, still).  I'm going to start making a commitment to going to the gym at least twice a week, hopefully three times, ASAP.  Not only to deal with that stuff, but my general conditioning has gone to hell; I find I'm getting winded more often, and keep losing my balance (I think that's more to do with my ear-thing, but also figure if I start getting more physically active, it should help)

• Pick up the pen again: haven't written anything of any significance in a very long time.  I've got an idea for a Young Adult fantasy novel I'd like to start on.  I'm in the 'making notes' stage right now, and am enjoying the brainstorming.  I'd like to get to the point by the end of the year that I'm writing every day.  High hopes, but I'll try.

• Have fun with my hobbies again: the last few years have been frustrating to me hobby-wise.  Trouble finding/keeping a group of gamers together has been a constant problem, and I've all but given up on the hobby a number of times.  I think I'm on my way to solving the problem at this point: I've found a new group of guys where I'll only have to play, not be expected to coordinate the games, or run them.  I'm taking this as an opportunity to just hang back, relax, and try and remind myself of why I participate in the hobby at all.

• New job: that pretty much says it all.

• And finally, to take as much enjoyment out of my family, out of my role as a husband and father, as I possibly can.

And that's all for now.  Hope you all have a great rest of 2008, and I'll catch up with you in 2009.

So, about a year ago, in a fit of nerdstalgia, I started picking up tons of old, weird AD&D 1st ed books. All the core hardcovers, tons of supplements from TSR, Mayfair, and a few other strange sources (Bard Games "Complete..." series, the "Heroes for Wargames" coffee table art book on miniatures, etc.). Effectively, creating something of a "time capsule" of what was (for me) the glory days of AD&D, which was around 1985-1989.

Flash-forward a few months, and I met up with a guy who lives the next city over from me, and is putting a 1st Ed. AD&D game group together next month. I met with him last week, and we hit it off, even discovering we had a mutual friend, and so the game is starting in a few weeks.

I'm now going through the books, making a character, and just having a blast with the weird Gygaxian editorial style and prose, and with the kooky dichotomy of 'tons of fiddly rules for weird things' and the 'make it up as you go' attitude of the game.

I guess this is all my sad attempt at rediscovering the game, and hopefully the fun of the hobby. I keep thinking of this experiment as my way of 'getting back to basics'.

From time to time, I'll pop in here with strange rules questions, comments on the game, or what I'm trying to figure out. Etc.

And so...

In Which I Make A Character

So, I'm making up a character for the 1st. Ed. AD&D game. I was warned by the DM that he plays very much "let the dice fall where they may" and that there's definitely a chance of PC death.

As such, I'm not trying to get too wrapped up in my PC; I'm just going to roll up a guy I think will be fun to play, and then have a couple of backups ready.

As usual in a situation like this, I just went to my pile of unpainted minis, and found a couple of figs that I think will make cool characters. I pulled out:

• Human ranger in a hood, with a big bow, and a longsword
• Elf in scale mail with a cloak, sword and shield
• Human fighter in chain with axe & shield
• Hobbit in studded leather with a dagger and cloak

So, these will be the PC's I'll stat up first, anyway. I'm starting with the Ranger, just because I love Rangers, and it looks like a fun PC to play and paint. Eventually the other figures will become an Elf Fighter/MU, a Human Fighter, and a Halfling Fighter/Thief.

Now, I've also been on a big "Robin of Sherwood" kick lately, as I've been listening to the soundrack to that old show while reading Dragon Warriors. So, Ranger it is.

As an homage to the show, I decide to name him "Robert Herneson", which I assume nobody in the group will get.

In speaking with the DM, I get the basic houserules for chargen: 4d6, drop the lowest, and arrange as we see fit; Weapon Specialization per UA; NWP's per DSG/WSG.

So, I set about making my guy. I've already decided that I want to take specialization in the Bow, and make this guy an archer-ranger kinda dude. I like the idea of getting the increased damage at Point Blank range, as it sounds like we're going to be exploring a ruined city for the first part of the game. Unfortunately, to take a specialization with a bow, takes up all three of my initial weapon proficiency slots, meaning I'll be at -2 to hit with anything but a bow.

I go about rolling stats and get the following: 10, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17. Pretty good, all around, but the stat requirements for a Ranger are so high, I end up burning my 'high' rolls of 13, 14, 16, and 17, to just qualify for the class.

I had hoped to put my 17 into DEX, to get him to be even more awesomer with the bow. Not to be. In the end, I decided to put the 17 into STR, to balance out the non-proficiency penalty with my longsword, incurred by taking the Specialization with the bow. The two 10's went to DEX and CHA, and the other rolls went into the other required stats for the Ranger. Sadly, I was also a few points short of getting the 10% XP bonus. Ah well.

Next up, I start equipping. I ended up with 130 gold, and start with the basic stuff: leather armor, bow, arrows, sword, dagger. Then on to more esoteric things: adventuring junk like ropes, backpacks/pouches, another dagger, iron spikes, a horse, with bridle, saddle, saddle bags and blanket. I went to buy him some clothes and was rather amused. Got him boots (high, soft), a cloak, belt... but then noticed that while the clothing section lists things like hats, helmets, caps, robes, girdles, etc. it never has shirts or pants. I guess the assumption was that PCs would be wearing some sort of armor (even for the lowly thief, I suppose cloth or leather).

But, if a PC Magic User wants to wear something other than a robe, I guess he's screwed. He'll have to get a cap and boots, and be very, very cold otherwise.

Now, I should also mention something really cool up to this point. Rather than bother with a character sheet up front, everything I've done for this character has been plopped down onto on 3x5 index card. Just jotting down the notes of the skeleton of the character took me all of 15 minutes. And this is from not having played AD&D or made a character for the game in approximately 18 years.

Nice.

So, all that's done, and I start filling things in on the character sheet. Working out bonuses, getting weapon stats, logging equipment (and bemoaning the fact that there's no place for 'shit I'm storing on my horse', so I'll just have to asterisk it in the 'center' column of the equipment list).

And, sadly, at that point, the cold I've been fighting got the better of me, and I packed up the books and went to bed. I'll probably finish everything else off tonight.

I'll post a photo of the filled out PC sheet when I'm done, just for the hell of it. And one of the miniature, as well.

For the all of like two people who might be interested in this.

It occurs to me that over the last few years, I've had absolutely zero interest in the traditional watching of "A Christmas Story" around the holidays.  I used to watch it a couple of times every holiday season, but I guess I burned out.

Also, the rest of the world apparently is not aware of the fact that "Gramma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" hasn't been funny since about 1986 or so.

Just an FYI.

Aside from that, I'm looking forward to the next few days.  I'm lucky enough to have my family, and so many close friends nearby.  I was getting stressed out about all the 'visiting' going on over the next week or so, and then just had to take a step back and think, "Wow.  How lucky am I?" 

El Guapito is really excited about the holiday, in that strange way that he gets.  He raced into the daycare this morning, to announce to his friend who's name he'd drawn in the gift exchange that "I got you a present!".  It wasn't until a little bit later when he saw the other presents in the pile that he even realized he'd be getting one, too.

Also, I won the coolest 'door prize' at the Girl's office party last week.  But, it's worthy of a whole entry, with photos and everything, so I've been saving that.  Maybe I'll write about it this weekend.

So, as discussed here, last night the Girl and I took el Guaptio and la Bonita down to the fire station to drop of the toys we'd picked up for the Alameda County Firefighters Toy Drive.

For the last week or so, every time we mentioned the drop off to el Guapito, he told me "I want to keep the Superman for me."  And I'd calmly tell him that that was a toy we'd picked out for the kids who didn't have toys, and that I was very proud of him for giving up something he really wanted, to make another kid happy.

So, we get to the firestation last night, and start taking bags of toys out of the trunk.  El Guapito sees the Superman and picks it up, and I get ready to have 'the conversation' again.  He looks at me, says "I want to take this one to the Fireman, for the kids who don't have toys." And my heart just melted.  I stood there and watched as he walked up the pathway to the firehouse, coveted Superman in hand, and handed it to the Fireman.  We brought the rest of the toys up after that, but it was that one that I'll always remember.

Afterwards, we were getting into the truck, and he said to me, "Poppa, I wanted to keep the Superman for me."  And I said, "I know, buddy.  I'm really proud that you gave it up for the kids."  And he said, "I think the kids will be happy on Christmas now."

I sure hope so.  I know I am.

The other day, my dad explained his whole theory on why we should not close down Guantanamo to me.

Simply, he wants to put everyone who was responsible for Guantanamo and other probable war crimes offenses since Bush took office on trial.  And anyone (IE: most of them) found guilty should be sent to Guantanmo.

Therefore, it must remain open.

This, like many of my dad's bizarre theories, actually makes sense.

I'm expanding on this idea, to create a whole "Escape From New York" meets "Lord of the Flies" thing.  Just send all those folks to Guantanamo, and leave them there to fend for themselves.

In recap:

Friday:

Came home, to find my copy of Dragon Warriors and the Bestiary were indeed delivered by UPS that day.  Gave them a thorough skim after the hobbits went to bed, and it looks like a fab game.  Can't wait to try it out.

GeekSquad called to tell me that my laptop's hard drive had indeed failed, and I need a new one.  Told them I'd come down and sort it out in the next couple of days.  Have no burning desire to do so.  I want my home computer back, but am honestly enjoying not having it around as a distraction.

Saturday:

Cleaned the house, went shopping for our annual "Toys For Tots" donations, and took el Guapito with me.  He was really good, and excited to buy presents for 'the kids who don't have any toys'.  Minor meltdown when he decided he wanted to keep the Superman he chose for himself.  We discussed that sometimes giving means giving up something you really want, and I think in the end he'll be okay with giving the toy away.

Spent an hour continuing to dig the hole for the concrete for the new clothesline pole.  Yes, newer than the one I mentioned us putting up a few weeks ago.  That one was not so much with the 'installed correctly', and popped right out of the ground as soon as we hung some clothes on it.

Later that evening, had Mr and Mrs amblynman over for dinner and we all had a fine time, and way too many buffalo wings.

Sunday:

Woke up with a cold.  Went to OSH to get concrete and a metal sleeve to drop the new clothesline post into.  Felt crappier.  Rested, and then when the kids were down for their naps, ran back to OSH, because the theory we'd come up with for installing the plug/pole holder thingy didn't look like it was going to work.  Took the plastic plug to OSH to try and find a sleeve in which it would fit.

While at OSH, found a sleeve that I thought would fit the pole, but not the plug.  Went home, got the pole.  Went back to OSH.  It was indeed the right size.  Bought it.

Then sunk a plug of concrete 39 inches into the ground, ran a galvanized steel pipe (from OSH, above) into it, filled that to a certain level with concrete, levelled it off, and went into the house to rest some more.

Then, ran to Target with el Guapito to buy some shipping boxes for Christmas gifts, and some "Pledge with Future Shine" which is used for making "Magic Wash".  Been looking for the "Future Acrylic Floor Sealer" stuff for a couple of years now.  Only just found out they'd changed the name.  Looking forward to trying it out, finally. El Guapito decided he wante a Santa Hat, and they were only a couple of bucks, so I bought him one.  He wanted the one with the black trim.  Go figure.

Came home, dinner and did a little bit of painting.  Finished basecoating a mob of 8 zombies, and will start the washes/details/highlights tonight, with luck (photos of the entire swarm of undead on which I've been working to come when the zombies are done).  Wrote a few Christmas cards to my aunts and uncles to include with their gifts, and the Girl's going to be mailing all that out today.

Took Nyquil, and crashed.

Woke up this morning still feeling like crap, but I'm here, and relatively coherent.

All in all, a fairly productive weekend.

Tonight, I'll head down to the GeekSquad after the kids are asleep, and sort out the whole Hard Drive situation.  Wish me luck.

So, about a year ago, I bought the personal time-management book, "Getting Things Done" which came highly recommended to me.  By a number of friends.  Had some great ideas in it about managing your time to, as it were, get things done.  IE: things that really matter, not just fiddling around.

Of course, I never managed to get around to reading the damn thing.

I was thinking about this the other day.  The illusion of 'busy' in our modern lives.  Part of this, I think, has come from the fact that my PC at home has been in the shop for almost two weeks at this point.  I've been somewhat amazed at the amount of 'things' I'm able to 'get done' without the 21st century's answer to the idiot-box to distract me.  Evenings have become a time where (after the kids are in bed, and lunches are made for the next day) I've spent more time with the Girl, reading, catching up on my backlog of unpainted miniatures, and generally just hanging out and enjoying the many good things I'm blessed enough to have in my life.

So, some goals:  Whenever the PC comes back from the shop, I've decided that it  will only come out in the evenings/weekends for specific purposes.  If I want to write, check a few emails, whatever, I'll pull it out then.  If I'm just bored and feel like surfin' the net, I'll make an attempt to leave it in the bag in the closet.

I'm also working on getting through the collection of time-management and writing books I'd collected over the last year.  And a few novels which I picked up and never 'had time' to read.  Further to that, I'm going to curb my impulse buying of new books/games until I've finished the backlog, and really gotten some use out of the things I've been picking up over the last year or so.

It just makes me wonder.  I so often feel overwhelmed, and hear people talking about how 'busy' they are in their lives.  I wonder if we spent the time to focus on what really matters to us (family, friends, things we truly enjoy), and what we really need to do (shopping, working, stuff we must do to survive) if we wouldn't find out that we've actually got the time.

Beats me.  It'll be a grand experiment, in any case.