Five Games I’m looking forward to playing in 2012:

 

1) Flash Point: Fire Rescue – the gameplay is very similar to Pandemic … essentially, you are a fire fighter and the game is a co-operative… the idea – save 7/10 or more people from a burning building. If the building collapses or people die – you lose. And with rumored expansions come different styles of maps (corporate buildings, two-story homes, etc.) Definitely looking forward to this!

 

2) Airlines Europe – I know little about this game (buying stock in European airlines), but it’s designer, Alan Moon, was behind the Ticket To Ride series we enjoy so much, so I’m looking forward to this one too.

 

3) Thunderstone – I’ve been told it’s Dungeons and Dragons proper meets Dominion, so I’m naturally inclined to be interested in playing this…

 

4) The Settlers of Catan – similarly described as a “gateway game to the Euro game” market, and yet, I’ve never played it yet!  So I’m interested in this one due to reputation alone… plus a couple of folks have recommended it to us, so…

 

5) Sentinels of the Multiverse – it’s a co-operative super-hero game. Think Champions but done with cards and no grinding of 30d6+ worth of dice! And I always hear the Queen song “Princes of the Universe” in my head when I read the name of this game, and that’s never a bad thing.

 

Honorable Mentions:

Agricola – I think the game about farming and raising a family and oh yeah – more farming – sounds intriguing in that it’s ALL strategy and no “luck” (dice) involved, but the length of games (45min-1hr per player) will likely be a bit much for our tastes.

 

Battlestar Galactica – it’s another co-operative game, but with an interesting twist – some of the players are SECRETLY Cylons, but in the “no black, no white, all grey” world of BSG, the suspicion that folks ARE Cylons turn the whole co-operative concept on its head, and with the survival of the human race in the balance, it sounds a lot of fun, but again, the overall time to play the game (1.5-2.5 hours) seems a bit long for my current group.

If we have that much time, we can squeeze in TWO games of Carcassonne.

 

Dave’s Top Ten Board Games He Has Played in 2011:

Hey!  This blog is alive!  That’s right, I’m writing a blog post!  Stop the presses!

So I’m taking a page from the end of the year lists that folks like to make about the previous year (yes, I’m looking at you, Lorin) and forming my OWN Top Ten List of Board Games that I have played in 2011.

In the last year Valerie and I have dove into a mutual appreciation of board games, brought on by my sister-in-law Lyn’s boyfriend Pete introducing us to a few games (Dominion and Carcassonne). This sparked our own interest in the field and we’ve played a number of games since.

In terms of rules and play of the games listed – in the interests of keeping things simple I’m including links to videos that show the game and how to play it. This should give an idea of what the game’s about and whether or not you think it might be something you too might be interested in.

For this list, each game is ranked in terms of my two cents of the games’ overall fun, but I’ve added metrics for if it plays well with non-gaming folks, if it has an iPad version (or has one planned), whether or not I can realistically beat Valerie at the game, and why it’s ranked in that position.

Credit to most of the game videos demonstrating the play of these games goes to Tom Vasel of the Dice Tower, one of the best commute podcasts about gaming… ever. His voice may indeed be a little nasal, but his enthusiasm for the games shines through.

 

The FB-Borg Have Missed You…

This article is for the non-Facebookers out there… because for those of you already on The Face (or FB), you’ve probably heard-seen most of this stuff already.

Many of you choose to avoid the Borg-Like Collective and the Power of the Dark Side.

Those of us on Facebook… well, we miss you. 

Yes, I suppose I could use non-traditional TwenCen methods to reach you… like an e-mail or a phone call.  However, the reverse applies too.

And yes, some of you have been really good about trying to keep in touch despite my more recent Heismann-like approach to most external people-objects-events distant of late.  For that, I thank you for your continued friendship even if at times I’ve been feral about keeping it real in the 94501.

Special note — If you use Skype – I sometimes have an account open in the evenings for vid-conferencing with the Santa Cruz Steeles and may be available to talk.

In my defense, one thing that I can say about a having a young family dynamic and a bone-crushing depressed economy is that it does tend to eat away at available free time.

“Free time” is now more along the lines of “sanity time” or “less productive than I could be” time.

(And I’m not re-opening the discussion of “me time”.  That unknown-double-meaning-to-me-until-I-misused-it-ha-ha-ha ship has sailed.  Seriously.)

Here’s a sample of what you can see if you join up with Facebook.

 

Getting A Bit Dusty Around Here…!

PH-WOOOOOOFFF!!!

That’s the sound of me blowing the dust off this blog.

I noticed that the www.steelaraza.com link was dead a few days.  It’s since been renewed. 

Lately, family updates can be found over at Valerie’s profile over at facebook.com.  There’s a number of Max shots and a couple of new videos too.

There’s also been a slew of Soquel High reunion photos out there as well.  I had a great time, as evidenced by the following:

This is why I'll never be in politics...

I only wish I could remember what the heck was THAT funny.

 

Webfinds of the Week (for the Criminally Insane):

First, a few animated videos of the Ramones.  My favorite is, of course, the Legos version of the Ramones signing “Spider-Man”, even if the video seems to be out of focus.

Secondly, I saw this and realized its sheer insanity and genius all at once.  For this — a hearty salute and a warning — I hereby present RPS-101 (RPS=Rock, Paper, Scissors, and now 98 other options).  I remember adding bombs and falling buildings as a kid, but never went past… oh, eight or so options… these folks go beyond anything considered… uh, normal.

Lastly, sorry for the lack of activity on the site.  I need to get my hands on Val’s laptop sometime — that’s where all the good Max stuff gets transferred to!  That said, for our friends on Facebook, I believe Val added a new video of Max within the last week or so…

 

Not That I’m Under Any Impression He Reads This Blog, but…

This is for my next door neighbor.

Should he ever see this, given the date and the tag entries, he should be able to figure out why.

Update:  Neighbor’s response – “IN YOUR FACE, GROOVIN’ AQUAMAN!!!”

 

Dave’s Webpick of the Week, or “Struck by… A Smooth Criminal”:

Because this is too cool not to share — Fred Astaire makes Michael Jackson proud in a video mashup of “Smooth Criminal”.

 

Not so little anymore…

Hello family, friends and fans of Max! Surprise, surprise, it’s been a long while since I’ve posted. So many things have happened with Max since my last post, including:

(1) Traveling Man

Max went on his first plane ride! My mom had been staying with us since January, but come May it was time for her to return home to Lolo. We were very lucky to have had Lola’s help during such an important time in Max’s life.

Here’s Max on the plane…looking a bit concerned, but happy nonetheless.

All that traveling tired him out, so he fell asleep on me.

We stayed in San Diego for the weekend, but all good things come to an end. Here they are at the airport before we checked in a security.

And as an aside, the SD Airport is super nice now! I’ve traveled back and forth for the last 10 years, but it’s only now that I’ve noticed all of the nice improvements they’ve made, including the new gate/terminal at the end with practically no lag time.

(2) Creepy Crawlies

Another exciting Max development is that he is starting to crawl. He was using moving along using his tummy muscles in the beginning, but now he’s gotten to the point where his knees and butt are getting him moving. Here he is with Daddy at Lolo and Lola’s house.

(3) Max has two bottom teeth!

Yes, after months of eager anticipation, our bubby finally has his first two teeth coming in. Surprisingly, he hasn’t gotten a fever, which is common with new teeth. On the downside, however, he has been crankier than normal. I guess I’d be cranky too if I had new teeth erupting through my gums.

(4) 9-month Checkup

Max had his 9 month checkup last week. He weighs in at 20 lbs, 11 oz, and is 28.75 inches long.

I knew that he was tall (70th percentile for length), but I was surprised that he didn’t weigh more. He sure feels like a 95th percentile baby! According to the baby birth chart from www.mybirthcare.com, he’s in the 54th percentile for weight. He was in the 75th percentile at his 6 month appointment.

I’m going to have to add more protein to his diet. Chicken and fish…here it comes!

(5) First Baseball Game

We took Max to his first baseball game, courtesy of Uncle Lyman! He was so excited to see all of the people swarming around him, and could barely contain himself in the Baby Bjorn.

By the 4th inning, however, he was passed out. He stayed asleep until the 8th inning.

(6) Go Bruins

Finally, I’ve been waiting for Max to fit into his UCLA Bruins onesie for a while now. He wore it this morning before I went to work and his nanny came over. I know that Dave is pulling for UC Davis, but I would be so happy if he decided to go to UCLA and be a Bruin.

Go Max Go! Grow Max Grow!

 

Yay! Max is Nine Months Old!!!

So… what’s new? Max hit the nine months old mark on Wednesday!!!

Yay, Maxwell!

Recent Max developmental discoveries:

1)The LOUD button on his volume control. And not just for the “I’m unhappy” voice, just for random happy babble.

2)People are cool.

So are cats!

3) He can stand with support from Mom and Dad for short periods.  He’s also an expert sitter.

4) He’s got two ridges where his lower two teeth are threatening to come out.

5) Rolling left to right is easy. Crawling forward with just your chest muscles is a great work-out, especially when you’re rewarded with the Tivo remote to gum.

 

Dave’s Webpicks of the Week, or “It’s $%^#in Checkers”

For those that still fondly remember playing video games on an Atari 2600, this site will bring back memories.

My favorites:  “Wrong button!” was Missle Command.  We’d grimly name the cities after local cities and even as kids would pause and ponder what that meant after THE END flashed on the screen… (dang Cold War ruining our childhood fun and all)…that and “Starship Future Engineering Challenge” because its real title was “Basic Programming” and I actually did write some old programs on this thing before graduating to an Apple IIe soon after.

Yes, I was a nerd even in the late 70s…

Related:  Fun with Choose Your Own Adventures, which I may have posted here before…