So, when you receive a MySpace friend request from “Donna” who doesn’t have a picture, and lives in another state, and who’s only friend is “Tom”, what do you do?
Yes. And I was just about to delete the invitation, but I noticed some oddities. She wasn’t 18 or 21 or 26, like most MySpace spam, but 41.
And she’s in Geismar, Louisiana. That sounded vaguely familiar, so I looked it up. Suburb of Baton Rouge.
Hmm, I actually know a Donna of that age that lives in the suburbs of the Red Stick. I guess I’ll give her a day or two to put any identifying information onto her account.
But Donna, MySpace is so 2004. Where’s your FaceBook account?
June 19th, 2008
Posted by
bshirley |
friends, random, tech, web |
no comments
A chronological list of my holiday weekend, with duplicates removed. It was over a week ago, but I’ve finally put it all down in writing. I have included the ratings for the beers and the games (taken from RateBeer.com and BoardGameGeek.com). The beers are ranked by percentile. The games are rated out of 10, and ranked in order.
- Franziskaner Heffe-Weisen (90) - a fabulous summer beer, light and refreshing
- Yspahan (7.5, 83, Sébastien Pauchon) - a fun and light game with wooden camels, and an interesting dice mechanic; a very approachable game for “non-gamers”
- Unibroue Maudite (96) - a fabulous and dark complected beer, with riotous carbonation; i discovered this Quebecan gem when I was living in Alberta, and have loved it ever since
- Hacienda (7.3, 151, Wolfgang Kramer) - take your cattle to market on the South American pampas frontiers; lots of bits, moderate difficulty
- Lord of the Rings (7.1, 187, Reiner Knizia) - a co-operative game, where everyone is playing a hobbit, trying to help the ring be destroyed, quite a bit of variety, with multiple boards, we lost horribly
- Dvonn (7.6, 69, Kris Burm) - one of the Project GIPF series (all 2-player abstracts), Woody’s son Mac happens to be very good at it and he trounced me
- Anchor Porter (98) - my favorite beer is the next one I’m having, variety is the spice of life, and the variety in beer styles is what I like, but when pressed, this is the beer I call my favorite, it’s chocolatey goodness is unsurpassed
- In the Year of the Dragon (7.7, 53, Stefan Feld) - this was a new “big box” release last year, and got a lot of play, though mixed reviews at last year’s BGG.con; i was slow to warm up to this game, but by the time my first play was over, i liked it
- New Belgium 1554 Brussels Style Black Ale (85) - the lowest rated beer so far, likely because it’s not true to style; it is true to total deliciousness, and I have several friends who like this beer a lot, but aren’t really beer drinkers
- Twilight Imperium, Second Edition (7.2, 794, Christian T. Petersen) - this 2000 game was superseded in 2005 (3rd Edition, 7.9, 27), last year I bought the 2nd edition w/ expansion for rock-bottom prices; this was the first real play I’ve had, it was very enjoyable, it would be great with 4 (we had 3), and yes it would take 6 hours or so
- Tribes - hmm, a week gone by and I don’t recall this game
- St. Arnold Summer Pils (36) - a good light but moderately hopped beer
- Unibroue Trois Pistoles (99) - a dark belgian ale, another fabulous example from this brwery
- Lindeman’s Framboise (90) - it seems that lambic variety has dropped in past years, Lindeman’s can always be found in the Houston market; this is their raspberry infused version; not as sour as tradition would dictate
- Tigris and Euphrates (8.2, 4, Reiner Knizia) - a classic, and tough to get your brain around, such simple mechanics, such complex interplay, best with 4, very Knizia
- Lindeman’s Cassis (76) - this may be one of my favorite lambic flavors, this one is black currant
- Goa (7.9, 21, Rüdiger Dorn) - this one has sat in the box at Wimberley many, many times, and this is the first I’ve played it; it was a great game, i’d love to play more
- Avery The Reverend (87) - a quadruple that was deliciously sweet and complex
- Alagash Dubbel Reserve (87) - a taste beer from Maine
- Hamburgum (7.4, 159, Mac Gerdts) - i wasn’t quite sure about this one on my first play a month ago (despite beer being one of the resources in the game), but playing it a second time I really came to enjoy, and grok, this one
- North Coast Brother Thelonious (90) - a strong ale from California, named after the Jazz icon
- Tripel Karmeliet (98) - a fabulous belgian tripel
- Ra (7.9, 19, Reiner Knizia) - this multi-round bidding game is nearly 10 years old and a classic
- Lindeman’s Pêche (79) - peach, a standard, but less common lambic flavor
- Lindeman’s Kriek (82) - the classic version of the flavored kriek; cherry
- Traders of Genoa (7.5, 76, Rüdiger Dorn) - we play this one fairly often at Wimberley, this time it was reinforced that the game play can vary drastically depending upon the opponents - there’s deal making afoot
- Recess! (5.4, 3643) - a kids game where you try to steal the lunch money from everyone else while not getting caught by the nuns, getting one of your boys to kiss one of your girls ends the game and earns a bonus
- Keythedral (7.1, 131, Richard Breese) - a game I had to have for the octagonal pieces, generally enjoyed by all
- Las Vegas Showdown (7.4, 116, Henry Stern) - a great build-your-own-casino theme, implemented with a bidding mechanism that’s not too threatening, mean new-comers always enjoy it; lots of fun
- Wits and Wagers (7.2, 175) - a great solution to the party trivia game - bet on everyone’s answers; this one was in constant play last year at BGG.con
- Pandemic (7.9, 29, Matt Leacock) - brand new and hard to find, this game is amazingly fun, even when you perpetually lose; well balanced, it’s a shame it maxes out at 4 people
June 5th, 2008
Posted by
bshirley |
friends, games, travel, weekend |
one comment
Here’s a nice shot. One of the Dancing Sisters took this one. Not sure who had the camera at this point.
May 13th, 2008
Posted by
bshirley |
art car, friends, picture, weekend |
one comment
Whew! I’m still breathing hard. Just got back from the beer run for Saturday morning.
I usually have regular thursday night and friday night plans. I bailed on both of them. No thursday games with friends. No friday running sound for the Ringwalds.
I helped out Allen Hill in preparing the OldiesMobile for the Art Car Parade on saturday. Lot’s of starts and stops, and success and failure, as art cars are want to be. But I think we’re ready for the morning.
I borrowed a generator from our service department. It is built to support an ambulance, so it’s totally over engineered for running a band. Loading into my car with a fork lift was the first warning - this things gonna be heavy.
Thursday, Allen and I moved it from my car, tested it, it worked great. We moved it into the Mobile. Friday I get home, he’s in my driveway, we move it from the Mobile, it’s a no-go. We call Sir Henkel and with three, we 1) pick it off the ground to a table, 2) off the table to the hood, 3) off the hood to the roof. Job performed, Sir Henkel retreats. (more…)
May 9th, 2008
Posted by
bshirley |
art car, friends, houston |
2 comments
This motley group can only mean one thing.
Okay, it can mean many, many things. And most of them are dubious. But not this one. It means it’s time for the Art Car Parade.
(This photo is from the parade 2007 - photo by Virginia)
I’ll be driving the Allen Oldies Mobile this year.
May 5th, 2008
Posted by
bshirley |
friends, houston |
2 comments
This weekend I spent the weekend in Wimberley, Texas. One of the boardgames someone wanted to play was Goa - a trading game themed on the historically important region of India. But it’s a four-player game and we had five people, so it never got played. 
Another that was high on the list and did get played was Perikles - by well-know boardgame designer (yes, there are a few), Martin Wallace.
On the return trip I listened to the NPR Puzzle podcast from the previous weekend. Will Shortz had just returned from some sort of puzzle tournament in Goa. The on-air puzzle was categories in C-H-A-M-P, and plays by Shakespeare was one of them. Can you name a P- play by Shakespeare?
(more…)
April 29th, 2008
Posted by
bshirley |
friends, random, travel, weekend |
one comment
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