A Weekend of Nothing Writing this blog post has been probably the most I have done all weekend. I got to sleep in Saturday and then play Neverwinter Nights the rest of the day. Today has been pretty much a repeat of yesterday.

This is what I call a weekend. I'm still getting use to the commute and the earlier rise time.

Next weekend we travel to my sister's for the weekend to celebrate Rae's birthday. So, it will be anything but a relaxing weekend with the long drive to and from there. Glad I got in a lot of rest this weekend.  ¶ 6:29 PM 0 comments

  Memory Walk

My wife signed up to be a captain of the local Memory Walk that will take place in November. It's a great charitable cause that raises money for Alzheimer's research. Her Grandmother had Alzheimer's for many years, so this cause is near and dear to her heart. She is excited to take part but a little nervous at the same time since she wants to raise a lot of money for her team.

She signed up to be a team captain since there wasn't really a team in our area for her to join. Now she needs to recruit at least 9 team members. She has already had one sign up, and I'm her second one. She hopes to create a t-shirt for members and really fire up people to donate money. She has a couple of incentive ideas that she plans to put in motion within the next week.

Signing up for the Memory Walk was very easy and took not much time at all. Find a walk in your area and then join. Really it's that easy. I'm hoping to recruit a few of my friends since that should put us over the 9 member mark easily. I will be sponsoring her in her goal to raise a lot of money. I haven't done my pledge yet but will very soon. It would be nice for her team to raise at least $200, so that's our goal for September. Then whatever we raise in October is above and beyond our goal.

So, if you are in our area, sign up now to walk for our team. Use the find a walk link from the main page to get started. It really is easy and will take less the two minutes to complete the process.



  ¶ 6:57 AM 0 comments

  Moving on Vacation Right now we should be at Dragon Con. Instead we are still moving. Because of finances and other reasons, we canceled our plans to attend Dragon Con. We thought we would be done moving but that was just wishful thinking.

I had taken a few days off from work to attend Dragon Con. Good thing I took those days off but too bad I'm spending it packing the rest of our stuff. We have moved a good bit of items but still has a lot to do.

I have begun the huge task of sorting all of my Magic the Gathering cards. There are so many of them. I will probably be selling a good bit but still need to sort through for eBay or for trade.

Moving on my vacation really bites. Hopefully we will be completely done today. If so, then tomorrow is a date night and time to relax. Only for a few hours though since there is still much work to be done in our new home.  ¶ 6:53 AM 0 comments

  Back to School So a co-worker of mine was shocked to find out just how close I was to completing my degree. After telling my wife about it, she wanted to send the woman flowers because it is a frustrating point with my wife that I'm so close.

Now with my new job, if I get my degree it means a lot more money. My wife has taken it upon herself to get me enrolled back in school to finish this one class. I will probably have to retake two classes since it's my senior project class. I'm scraping my original idea and will go with something completely different, which means taking the first class over again.

I've already cleared it with my boss to take the classes. I do have to admit that it will be good to finally close this chapter once and for all.  ¶ 11:17 AM 0 comments

  Tournament Update While I didn't win, the L5R tournament, I did have a fun time. Well for the most part I did. I found some aspects very frustrating, mainly my playing ability. I got a massive headache and had to drop out because of it.

I was glad to hear that one of the locals won the sword. Some folks from out of town came in to play, which was great since it gives the rookies more playing time with different people.

Hopefully this is the first of many local L5R tournmanets.  ¶ 8:31 AM 0 comments

  Samurai Tournament This weekend is the Samurai L5R tournament at our local gaming store. The grand prize is a beautiful sword. It's really nice and since I love swords will be trying to win this one. It will be tough because there will be at least 10 others playing in the tournament.

I'm so glad to see such an interest in the Legend of the Five Rings card game. It's been wonderful to be playing again and introduce new players to the game. There are about five people driving about 50 miles to enter the tourney. There could be many more coming in from out of town too.

It should be a fun time. Of course any time I get the chance to play L5R is a good time.  ¶ 12:29 PM 0 comments

  Rolling Change My wife has been putting all of our change (well most of it) into a bank for Rae Rae. She has been meaning to roll it for a while. I keep telling her just to take it to the Coin Star and not worry with it but she is pretty frugal and doesn't want to pay the fee.

It'll be interesting to see how much money our change adds up to. She has been doing this for about two months. The little bank is almost full. Most of it is pennies but there is some silver in there.  ¶ 12:25 PM 0 comments

  Sleeved Cards The best way to protect cards is to play with them in sleeves. While it can be challenging to shuffle, it is worth it to keep those cards in great shape. Besides you can work a little strategy into choosing a sleeve color.

Take the game Legend of the Five Rings. Each clan has its own colors. You could use those colors for your cards or really play with your opponent's mind by using colors of other clans. It's best not to give away too much to people you are playing against. Keep them guessing at to what is coming next.

I like to use soft colored sleeves on my most deadliest decks. Why? Simply because it looks nonthreatening and might gain me an upper hand. It might not since people who know me might expect me to try such tactics. But for others who play games, they might can try a change up and it works really well for them.

I think I'm going to go for some cute anime chick sleeves next and go for a femme fatal L5R clan deck. It could work. Oh the possibilities.  ¶ 3:37 PM 0 comments

  Vince Flynn My wife rented Act of Treason for me at the library. Ever since I heard Vince Flynn being interviewed on the Glenn Beck show a few years back, I have been a big fan of his and had read all of the books except his last one, Act of Treason.

I finished the last Harry Potter book this week, so I was in need of a new book to read. The paperback version of Act of Treason is due out in August. I would like to pick up all of the hardback copies of his books to have as part of my book collection.

I'm not sure when his next book will be released but hopefully I will get my Mitch Rapp fix and be good for at least a few more months anyway.  ¶ 3:03 PM 0 comments

  Job and College Degree Have I mentioned that I love my new job? I have a desk, my own computer, and I work will like-minded people who have the sames goals as I do. It's been hard to find anything to complain about, which explains my absence from blogging.

There are some things to complain about, but all of that is my own fault like not having my college degree. When I told a co-worker that I was only three hours away, she was shocked and gave me the third degree about getting it completed. She is like a mother bear so I wouldn't be surprised if she calls the university and enrolls me herself. This would really bring much delight to my wife, so it wouldn't a bad thing.

My wife and I are too much alike in that we are easily appeased, so now I have a job that really doesn't care about my degree it's hard to get motivated to finish. On the other hand, a degree would mean more money. So I guess there is good reason to finish after all.  ¶ 2:57 PM 0 comments

  Wii at Sam's Club If it wasn't for Dragon Con next month, I could be playing the Nintendo Wii. While visiting Sam's Club, my wife and I noticed several Wiis in stock and priced at $249. We need to renew our membership to purchase something, it would put the cost at around $300. Since we are saving for Dragon Con, the Wii will have to wait. Damn us and being responsible.

It is comforting to know that when we do want to buy one, there is a place in town that has them in stock. Well, at least for now.  ¶ 2:49 PM 0 comments

  Legend of the Five Rings Samurai Edition So, I've renewed my interest in the card game Legend of the Five Rings in the past few months. Much to my delight, a couple of friends have also taken up playing the game.

The latest expansion pack has just been released called Samurai edition and features over 350 cards. My wife has even begun to play the game, which means I can not justify buying more cards since I'm technically buying for two.

Some of the rules have changed but nothing drastic seems to be different in game play. The rules have become more simplified and streamlined, so it should be good for new players to catch onto this game. There is a lot that goes on in the game and can be quite confusing for new players. Those first few games will be long battles but once players have a firm grasp on the turn sequence, then games will go much faster.

I bought a clan deck last night and chose Spider Clan. I normally play Scorpion but decided to branch out and try Spider. Leave it up to me to play the sworn enemy of my beloved Scorpion clan.  ¶ 2:42 PM 0 comments

  Movies at the Library Thank goodness for movies at the library. When you are broke, free video rentals that you can have out for three weeks is a sweet deal.

We also get free movies through My Coke Rewards but the coupon is messed up and has been pulled from the rewards for now. So, there is always the library. It's amazing how many movies that we haven't seen that are available to rent.

It definitely helps especially with reruns on our limited cable channels.  ¶ 9:29 PM 0 comments