Brush with Greatness

As I sit here, in the beautiful Crown Plaza hotel, in a little bar, drinking Guiness and playing Magic, life is good. Origins is a frickin ton of fun.

But that's not all. I'm not just playing Magic with a bunch of friends, ie, guys from Nayantara. I'm playing with Gary Adkison. Who is this? Well, he just so happens to be the father of ...

Wait a minute. I need to back up here.

First: I played some really cool CCGs today. This includes Cyberpunk (which is a waste, too many damn phases, rules, and math...give me a break). This also includes Legend of the Five Rings, which I purchased some cards of (as it is a great little game..), and I purchased 4 packs each of Mirrodin, Darksteel, and Fifth Dawn, each the latest sets of Magic: The Gathering.

The idea is to have a small 4-person draft amongst the fellas here. I found a super-cool dealer who will give me Magic at cost because I have an Exhibitor tag (God Bless you, Nayantara!). This is a great thing.

Okay, so I have my Magic packs. Now I need what all Magic decks need, whether they're from a booster draft (where you open a pack of cards, take one, and pass it around until you have 45 cards to use in a deck) or just a regular deck: You need land. And land is something that all decks need, and something that absolutely no dealers sell. Why? It's basically worthless to them, as any player who has been playing longer than a few weeks has all the land they'll need and then some. This also means that most players only take a few land with them, and no more.

This creates a dilemma. And so cut to this evening, after the Origins hullabaloo (can't wait to go try some more games tomorrow), and everyone is playing with their laptops except me, as I don't have one (I'm currently using Cuban_D, ie Chris Talbot's). An older man walks over. He says he has been playing Everquest for a long time.

Next thing I know he says something about Magic. I tell him I have enough packs for a sealed deck and I need land for them. How much, he says? I tell him I don't know, about 68 of each? (A basic sealed deck uses 17 lands. 17 lands x4 = 68 I think. If this is wrong let's just get past this so I can finish the damn story. Trust me, it's worth it)

Okay, so he comes back with 5 basic "Core Set" decks. I'm like, who is this guy? So he tells me to use the land as we wish, and to give it back to him when we're done. He tells us his son's name, and his name. Gary Adkison. His son is Peter Adkison.

For those who have no idea who this is, Peter Adkison started Wizards of the Coast. You know, the company that makes Magic? So here I am, standing in front of geek royalty, even if by-proxy, and the father of the guy who know runs Gen Con. This is some cool shit.

Next thing I know, Gary is buying us beers, we're playing a huge multiplayer game of Magic (ironically, the guy who's been bitching and begging to play all night gets kicked out first), and all is good.

The game is currently going on right now.

I miss my wife. I miss my kids. I miss both dearly. But goddammit, Origins is cool :D

Next Stop, Cornville

Columbus, OH. In the heart of the country, filled to the brim with corn. But it's also filled with geeks this weekend, as Origins is happening. Feel free to come and see me and the Nayantara crew whilst we pimp out the game that has rocked the nation to its very core.

I'll try to post updates along the way, as I am staying with Tony after all, and he's about as etherneted and networked as one person can be.

Until next time, I need to get some errands done and some things taken care of. The kids are staying with my sister until this weekend (ie, Friday), and I miss them terribly. My amazing Annie, my beautiful Abby. Sigh. It's going to be a long trip, and I can't wait to come home to em.

Until next time...

iPMW

Is it really necessary to get an ipod in your BMW? It's not like you're not driving one of the most expensive cards around anyway, but you have to make we lowly middle class suffer under the might of your highly shiny, excellently running machine that doubles as a world class mp3 player?

I'm not bitter, but of all the fuckin cars? Where's the ipod in a Pinto? Where's the ipod in the Ford Taurus? Where's the ipod in the pimp mobile for all ages? I want my mp3s everywhere I go, and especially when I'm cartin hoes around in my funk ride.

These aren't big things to many people, but mp3s are fucking sweet when you need a lot of music in a small space. I know it's been said before, but it looks like CDs are quickly making their exit, and the tides are definitely turning.

iTunes got their fingers in Europe, and the rest of the world is soon to come (except for China, of course, as music, sex, and beer are not allowed...and neither are kittens...and dirt...).

This post makes the 1,232,412th case for the death of CDs as well as the longevity of mp3s. I will say that DRM (Digital Rights Management) is useless. I could go on, but you really, really need to read this document. It is beyond fascinating, true, and best of all it was told to a group of Microsoft zealots who just can't wait to install every DRM-filled product on the market.

For those on the fence about DRM, trust me, you won't be on the fence any longer when you get done reading it.

To Help or Not To Help

This story is disturbing and true. I try to think back in my mind to a time in which I got some terrible customer service. Honestly, I think it's mainly a northern thing because I haven't experienced much in the way of bad service in Eastern TN.

This isn't the part where I drone on about some incident in the northern section of the country. It also isn't the part where I tell you some drawn out story about some incident in the southern section of the country.

I think I'm just a little scatterbrained, and excited about Origins and really liked that blog post.

So there.

Post Dad's Day

So Father's Day has come, and Father's Day has gone.

This year was cool, my family was around, so was my in-laws and my mother. In the scheme of things, this was a great Father's Day because I got my wish: I got breakfast for Dinner.

I love Breakfast. It's easily the best meal of the day, everyone knows that, but when it's pimped out, it is pimped out. We're talking biscuits, gravy, eggs, and bacon. Oh, and a super-sweet strawberry cake with cream cheese and milk chocolate icing. Can you say hell yeah? I knew ya could.

Annie was sweet, as always, until it got late and she got tired. Then she bit the ever living hell out of me. She got a free spanking for that one. I'm sure I'll have a bruise tomorrow.

Abby was her usual wonderful self, complete with drool and squealing. She's showing signs of acknowledgement and has mastered the art of rolling over. Things are looking up in this regard.

Ericka was my faithful and wonderful wife, who made said excellent breakfast and cake.

I didn't even have to use my AK. Today was a good day. (With apologies to Ice Cube)

On the Star Chamber front, we released the full Incursions card list spoiler, and I'm currently (as I write this) holding a tournament to honor the occassion. I had to push for this one, and I'm glad I did. We got a ton of peeps excited about the expansion, not to mention plenty of great comments and reactions. It's nice to see things gel and people get excited about what is to come in regards to my favorite game.

I've got some articles due up on the official site tomorrow, and I'm finishing editing those now, detailing even more changes. I expect some seriously angry and/or happy players based on the changes I'm writing about, so we'll see how it goes over.

I need something more interesting to write about here, but I'll save that for another time. Expect something in the late afternoon, when I have time to put some more intriguing thoughts together.