Test Post against Google+

Did I mention it's a test?

Second try

Forgot to photo when I stopped yesterday, so I had to stop on way to airport for 'breakfast' because I'm way more scared of Sari than I am cardiac arrest.

(glad I stopped, for whatever reason, this one is pretty good. Faith is restored.)

Art History

The Philadelphia Art Museum has over a dozen statues around it's grounds of varying historical significance. This is the line for people taking a picture of the Rocky statue. I believe it goes without saying that there were no lines for any other statue.

Whew, that was close

Third place in semi-final RA! the Dice Game game.  Do not advance, maybe can show my face around gaming circles again some day.

Crud

Won quarterfinal game of RA! the Dice Game, and into the semis.  Can't play Titan for a damn, but I apparently rule at multi-colored yatzee. Yay me. :-(

Semi-Final time

So in semis, starting in a few minutes, which is cool. But trying to keep in mind that it's NHL here, 16 of the 40 persons who participated move on.

Humorous aside - I woke up at 6:15am CST on a Saturday for this, an hour earlier than I do for work. I apparently don't vacation very well.

Quiet day

Not much to say about today. Up at 9:00, game of Tikal at 11:00 (was crushed), Titan at 2:00 (practice), Titan or Tikal at 6:00 (likely the latter because...), Wits & Wager showcase at 8:00 which I assume will be they're typical large-crowd game with teams of 8-10 each. Good fun, have dine it at GenCon a few times. Put on by the game creators, part game part sales pitch. Then a race to get some pizza delivered from a local place everyone recommends but closes at 10:00.

Short topic for today is city names of Pennsylvania. There are a lot of funny ones. Mist of these I've gotten from talking with locals, although ins the exit sign for my favorite one. In no particular order:
Peach
Plum
Indiana
Mars
Moon
Blue Ball
Intercourse
Climax
Buck
and my favorite
King of Prussia

Unless something unexpected happens, see you tomorrow from the Titan semis.

Maybe the night isn't quite done

So I rinsed the gamer stank off of me and decided to buck-up and look for a good beer in Pennsylvania. Infinitely harder than it sounds (more on that later, legal problems, not brewer's desires). So looked around and found a mere 30 miles away (more on that later too) the lovely Stoudt's Black Angus Restaurant. Good steak, friendly staff, nice selection of micro-brews. Beers were good, not excellent. Favorite by far was the ESB (pictured), a solid tribute to the English bitter.

Into the Black

That's it for today. I need a real meal and some time away. May be participating in a 9am Circus Maximus session tomorrow - dude GMing it is really cool and he uses little horse figurines and everything.

And Ted, when my whip hand veers a fellow charioteer into the wall, it'll be in honor of you!

Oh, shit...

I just won the game of RA! the Dice Game. I'm now in the semi-final on Saturday. I don't know the last time I was this embarrassed. I probably should duck it; if word gets out I'll never be taken seriously as a gamer. It's a travmockeryaster.

Another win, and a lesson learned

Yay me, a second win and I'm in the semi-finals. Convincing win, but against not great competition. So 9:00am Saturday begins the most Important Game of Titan IN MY LIFE!!! An event I rank, in anticipation, somewhere between finding a good beer in Lancaster County and my next successful trip to the rest room (irregular schedule and menus have not been my friend and I'll leave it at that...).

And lesson learned. I knew I needed to walk away from the Titan area and do something else, which was the demo for 7 Wonders, but it turned out to be a silly card/economy game I had no interest in. So I went back to familiar lands, gig in a Titan game at last second and was out in seven turns. So now I'm in a room waiting for a heat of RA! The Dice Game to start. Have pity on my soul (James would understand).

Day Two

Third hour of first Titan game in progress. Down to two, but my lead is deteriorating after a series of sub-par movement rolls. Still, I have confidence.

First big disappointment found in Lancaster County - it's Coca-Cola land. Sad face.

Streak is over

I say streak, but it was only two games. Then again, it lasted for ten hours. Nothing much to say about the game itself - I fell behind early and failed to gain ground in a number of different ways. A well deserved loss.

So one if the highlights of this conference is how well run it is. The picture is one of the examples. Every game is listed in different formats in different places. The main program has all events listed both by time (it's 9pm, here is all of the events happening, what round/heat it is, etc) and by specific games (in one line has location, GM, days of heats and of semis and final).

But that's obvious, it's what a program does. But in the rooms, the info is regurgitated in different ways that really works well. Back to the picture: that's one side of a triangular stand. The graphic makes finding the game tables from a distance simple in these huge rooms. This side has, right to left and top to bottom, GM picture and name, dates and times of rounds, color-coded by normal, semi and finals, all of the previous winners. Doesn't sound impressive in print, but it's so damned useful when looking for where you need to be.

Have a minute, quick note on sake. Games are played in five or six different rooms. Ballrooms have about twenty tables each, and big room has at least a hundred. Plus open gaming room mentioned previously. 101 games played in tournament form, and I'm told attendance is just over a thousand (I'd have guessed 1300).

More tomorrow, although likely to more of the same. Unless I play one more Titan game at 10pm tonight. Stupid, should Yuengling and sleep, but the siren calls.

Round 2!

Facing off against one of the favorites in the Titan 2s elimination tourney. He's way smarter than me. And he has a way nicer car. No, seriously, he does. It's a Tesla. He has two. FML. But other than playing verrrryyyyy slowly, seems like a decent fellow. Back to the game...

Thought I was nervous before?

http://www.boardgamers.org/yearbkex/ttnpge.htm

Just finished a game with Aaron (2010, see link) and David (2009). Apparently they are two of the three MIT Guys. And... Victory! And only took six-and-a-half hours. So now that I know I can play, I'll be disappointed to miss the finals. But too early to be thinking wood, still some sheep shearing to be done.

Win!

Won first game of Titan 2s (two-player bracket tourney). Winning roll below, came down to a tie-break because of mutual death, so I needed five dice above 3. Next match is against either 3-time champ or guy that beats him.

Firsts

Played first competitive game at the WBC (RA! - 2nd place). Ran into first person I recognized (from GenCon). About to have first Yuengling beer (tough to find beer for sale, different post topic) which I am concerned about, as the case cost $19.50. (Yes, case, see previous note)

Picture is of the open gaming room here. Gorgeous big room, with about sixty well-spaced tables and a fame library of nearly 1000 games. Yes, I'm excited about it.

Food

Sari made me do it. Had a very nice meal at near-by diner, want to say named Jennifer's Diner. Nothing fancy, but very solid diner, type of place with some soul in the food (more Curve than general Greek family place).
Had what is apparently a central Penn staple meal, fried chicken. My two veggies were carrot and mashed potatoes. If only I'd known that trick as a kid. Unexpectedly, the rolls were the star of the show - best rolls I can remember having, simple but perfect. $14.50 with soda.

Anyway, that was mostly for Sari/my safety. Off to play RA!

Where's Chuckles?

(that's my nickname at work. Only one person uses it, hasn't caught on, but I appreciate the effort)

Those of you with a keen eye will of course recognize that view as gates B33-B38 in Terminal 1 of the Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky airport. I know, looks more like Terminal 3, but I took photo from tricky angle.

Bored but fed, so better mood. Another hour crammed in a small plane seat and I'm free.

Shoes

Anyone that feels safer for having to take your shoes off to get on an airplane, raise your hand. Anyone that's embarrassed to be an American barefoot in an airport, raise your hand.

Not an encouraging start to my week. Maybe Econ class on Delta will pick up my spirits...

Vacation

I continually fail to understand how it is that I wake up far earlier on vacations than I do in real life.

Plane to catch.