The past week at work was a bit crazy. I spent a lot of time studying at home and spending 10-13 hour days onsite with early morning tests and late night project work. Fortunately I think most of that crazy work schedule is behind me, at least the working at home bit. From now on I'm resolved to leave my work at work, as it'll take enough of my time away doing just that.

Fortunately I had plenty of ways to relieve stress over the week and over the weekend. On Wednesday I finally got to play a Warhammer 40k game that turned out to be quite fun. I took part in a demo game with an older gentleman (who is responsible for the pic above, btw) and we just had a blast going over the rules and integrating pretty much every single one into our game. Hopefully I'll be doing that more often in the coming weeks, as it's a source of fun that I've been sorely missing.

Rachel and I also recently went to a "Post-Halloween Smug Fest" where we ate dumplings. This was an awesome party, as not only were the dumplings delicious but I got to debate comic books and Star Trek pretty much the whole night. Plus I came away from the party with a borrowed copy of Snow Crash, which I've heard from many people is a book that I really need to get into.

We also tried to get some karaoke in over the weekend but kind of failed. We got to sing along with a lot of the people who got to go up on stage but unfortunately I apparently needed to bribe the DJ beyond my $1 entry fee to actually get up on stage and sing. Still, pretty fun, and I learned that apparently you CAN sing death metal karaoke style if you really want to. Cool the first time, kinda sad the second...

I've also started working with a trainer at my gym to build a work out, and I've figured out that I'm pretty out of shape. Hopefully working out 3-5 times a week will change that around as I really don't have the time or opportunity to do much else- guess I'll just have to make the most of it!

Finally, I've been watching AMC's new series The Walking Dead and it's amazing. Granted I'm a post-apocalyptic fanboy and zombie apocalypse tenured professor so take my recommendations with a grain of salt, but I have been blown away with the depth that they've managed to get out of the ol' Undead Apocalypse. The impact of seeing your loved ones turned into ravenous corpses was definitely the focus of the first episode, leading to a lot of emotional scenes as the survivors try to cope with the changes in their world. The "walkers" as they are known in the show are also frikkin' creepy, especially since they still exhibit certain echoes of their past lives- the little dead girl picking up and clutching her teddy bear before trying to eat you, the dead wife coming to her old house every night and trying the door knob... great, chilling stuff. That combined with the great production values makes for some pretty terrifying ghouls.

If you're interested in getting into the series the first episode is streaming on the AMC website- definitely the place to check it out. Unfortunately it looks like they won't be streaming any of the other episodes, but I think most of you know some... "alternative" ways to get your programming so I won't go into that.

Well, that's it for now. Lots of tests and projects this week like last week so wish me luck!

Until next time...

"Each man is afraid of his neighbor's disapproval--a thing which, to the general run of the human race, is more dreaded than wolves and death."


- "The United States of Lyncherdom" by Mark Twain

*Images used without permission from

Halloween Pics

Well, that was a false promise if I ever made one. Sorry about that... anyway, here are some pics from the Halloween weekend. Enjoy!

 Here's me as everyone's favorite antagonistic superhero, Captain Hammer. If you don't get the reference, watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog already. Sheesh.

 Rachel didn't want to get all made up for Friday's outings so she quickly made herself into baby punk/goth.

 Epic continued to get into the spirit of things with a reference to one of my favorite comix.

 Rachel's actual costume as Delirium from the Sandman graphic novels. She's following her fishy!

 "I am following the Bogart Rantipole... who I turned into a fishy to be in-con-spicuous..."

 Our friend Jesse as post-apocalyptic Dorothy. Her scars show that she has been turned into her EVIL TWIN already.

 Another of our friends as Hit Girl...

 EVIL Captain Hammer! And now I have my OWN MONOCLE!

... did I mention this was an awesome party?

 Another of our friends who happened to dress up as Death, also from Sandman! Rachel was also turned evil, hence the mustache... or maybe it was just Delirium screwing around. Who knows.

 On the way up to the party there were scenes of a struggle...

 Pumpkins impaled on pumpkins...

 Scared... seedless.

 Murdered in clever ways...

 And disemboweled.

Happy halloween!

Non-Epic Things: Bread and Beer, paint ball, and a special guest

So I've been posting a lot about Epic, and I'd like to say that no, that is not all that happens out here... though that is a lot of it. A lot of my time has been spent doing hobby things that you can read about on my other blog, but there has been some other stuff. For instance, two weekends ago Rachel and I hosted a very successful Bread and Beer party at our house, celebrating two of life's greatest carbohydrates. Lots of people showed up and brought delicious beer and bread that we are still eating to this day. Man, I love generous people who don't take their stuff away again... I made a pair of loaves of heffenzupf which were devoured quite quickly while Rachel made delicious red velvet cupcakes with homemade icing. Yum!

We've also been working out pretty much daily (well... until this week...) at our gym downtown. It's great because there's almost never a crowd there when we go to work out so if we see a machine, it's ours. Plus they have cable and are very friendly about switching the channels... yay!

This weekend I went paintballing with some coworkers at Apocalypse Paintball. It was a lot of fun and very welty, though I seem to suck at the actual shooting bit. Oh well, just need to practice I guess..

A bit blurry, but that faint pinkish bit is still some paint stuck in my hair. Yay!

Last but not least Rachel Carroll, Girl Reporter saw OBAMA last Tuesday. OBAMA!

He was speaking at the campus and Rachel and a couple of her friends (plus about a hundred thousand other people...) went to go see him speak. Pretty cool, huh? Anyway, some pics from the party hopefully later this week, as well as maybe some pics from around Epic again.

Zombie Beach Party!

On Saturday my coworker Oahn hosted a Zombie Beach Party themed bash in her usual awesome fashion. Everyone showed up in beach gear and then got zombied up with face paint and fake blood. Then we headed out for a photo scavenger hunt, which was great! You can find my pics from the event below:

Zombie Beach Party

The weirdest thing about the event was how chill everyone on the street was with the fact that we were in zombie  make up. "Oh, you're doing a zombie photo scavenger hunt? Cool." was a very common reaction to us going about our business. One group of people even posed for us eating their brains while they played the guitar!

The night closed out with some much needed dancin' and partyin'. Flippy cup made its welcome re-entrance to my life as "In Flippy Cup it doesn't matter if you win or lose- that's not what Flippy Cup is about", as my team mate said. So true.

I'll discuss my World Cup experience next, so until next time...

All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"-- a strange complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
- The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson and the Comedy of the Extraordinary Twins

Easter Feast!

On Easter Sunday I had my second annual Easter Feast. It was a lot of work, but I think everyone had a great time.

Me preparing the ham

Rachel coordinating "Rachel's 2nd Annual Almost-Impossible Egg Hunt!"

Of course, no recounting of this event would be worthwhile without Jason's wonderful pictures of the entire proceedings. For an unedited look at the feast, check out my Picasa album here. I can guarantee that you won't want to miss it!

Easter Feast '10

My Girlfriend is Awesome, aka B-Day Weekend!

B-day awesomeness began on Friday when I got this in the mail:

 

Vielen Danke Oma!

Saturday began like any other Saturday. I went to work, taught classes, then headed over to the game store to play around with little plastic men. At around 6:30 I got a text message from Rachel, saying "I'm almost there- be ready to run out!" I quickly packed up my toys, finishing just after she arrived and announced that my "chariot awaits."

It turned out that she, Jason, Caroline and Russell were driving me away to St Paul for dinner! We tried going to the Blue Door Pub, but they were incredibly busy. Several restaurants later we got to the Muddy Pig, a fantastic pub in St Paul with good pub food and an excellent selection of beer and liquor. My choice of a whiskey flight was a good one, as, to quote Caroline, I had "a religious experience" with two of the three whiskeys. Heavenly stuff.

We then headed home, watched half of Up, then went out to the Uptown Theater at midnight to watch Mystery Team. Short review: very crude and crass but overall quite funny and enjoyable. If they had only left out the gentleman's club scene, I would have been overjoyed. As it is... you'll cringe a lot, but it was worth our time and money.

Then Sunday rolled around. I had decreed that I would spend the entire day thusly:

 

And so I did.

Later that day someone appeared at the door bearing wonderfully tasty gifts. The box looked like this:

 

 

And inside, it looked like this:

 

Mmmmm.... Puppy dog tails! And yes, that cup at the bottom of the picture? FILLED WITH FROSTING.

So, that was pretty amazing. Then, after I had gaming we started watching the Oscars, and people kept on randomly showing up! Becca, Ben, Ben, Dan and Sophie all appeared to watch the awards and play games.

Finally, at the end of the day, my most amazing girlfriend had one more surprise for me. I'll let the pics speak for themselves (click to embiggen):

 

Thank you Rachel!

Fancy!

On Friday Admission Possible had another one of their themed parties, this time fancy dress. So we delivered!

 

Ms Carroll, looking resplendent in her satiny purple dress

 

Myself, bedecked for heading out doors on a frosty Winter's night.

 

Once in the party, the coat, hat and gloves come off and the debonaire interior of my wardrobe can be seen.

And yes, we do have a lot of fun dressing up :)

Until next time...

"Their costumes, as to architecture, were the latest fashion intensified; they were rainbow-hued; they were hung with jewels--chiefly diamonds. It would have been plain to any eye that it had cost something to upholster these women."
- The Gilded Age by Mark Twain

Super Bowl Par-tay!

So the Superbowl happened on Friday. Being me I didn't really care who won, but it was definitely a reason to have an impromptu party!

 

Quite a few members of the gang (and extended gang) made it to my house to hang out, kind of watch the game and enjoy tasty things.. like my very own scratch-made pizzas!

 

The Broccoli Ricotta on white crust

 

The Cheese on Firecracker Cornmeal crust

The Artichoke and Tomato on white crust

...and the Tofu Satay on Firecracker Cornmeal crust.

Of course, being my group, there had to be games involved. Games played included Pandemic (can your team of players stop 4 superbugs from spreading across the globe? It's you against the game... and our players lost both times. Ouch.) and Citadels (change roles every turn while you build up your city- can you guess who each player is and plan accordingly? Or accidentally show your hand and have your gold stolen, or cities destroyed and your life taken by an assassin's blade?)

 

All in all, lots of fun. Oh, and somebody won the game thingy.

P.S. for a good time call 1-877-987-6401

Until next time...

"Well, say, this beats croquet. There's more go about it!"
- quoted in "Mark Twain at Football Game," New York World, Sunday November 18, 1900

This past weekend Rach and I headed up to Duluth to attend the reception for a  wedding that we went to a month ago or so. It was a pretty good party, though the dancing portion left much to be desired. Still, I soldiered on and valiantly made a fool of myself on the dance floor doing the YMCA and air guitaring to Queen.

We also got to see Rachel’s parents and hang out with them for a while. Rachel forced her mom to start watching Planet Earth with us, which was jaw-droppingly amazing. Even if you don’t like animal/National Geographic documentaries you will like this gorgeous masterpiece. Things like swooping silently through snow covered trees, seeing the full extent of a caribou migration and the incredible tactics of African Wild Dogs on the hunt are just spectacular experiences.

 

I also got to see Where the Wild Things Are last night, and it was pretty good. It does feel a bit stretched out at points but the entire thing is beautifully done and very true to the book’s artistic style. It’s definitely not so much a movie for kids as it is a movie about kids, as all of the Wild Things represent different child archetypes. There’s the rambunctious child who flies into a tantrum at the slightest provocation, the quiet loner looking in from the outside, the universal crush, the couple, etc. as well as plenty of the activities that kids tend to do. But they're not just children- they are also Wild Things that are large and have very sharp teeth. As one of them said, "If you have a problem, just eat it. It's what I always do." It's pretty, it's funny, it's scary, and it's pretty enjoyable for those who want to see a great look at what being a kid is like. Just don’t expect kids to be incredibly entertained by it.

Well, that’s it for now. Until next time…

 "Children have but little charity for one another's defects."
- Autobiography of Mark Twain