Simple America

I’m starting to get the football bug. The sports talk is starting to buzz as training camps are opening soon. NFL means it is time play fantasy football. Last couple of years I have been playing on Yahoo. In fact I did real good last season.

Maybe I can consider trying these guys out when I play fantasy football this year. They actually have a live draft, which to me makes the game interesting. See if you can pick the best players or not. That’s the challenge I enjoy. Think I’ll see if the rest of the guys wanna make the move. They have some nice prizes too.

Dragged out of bed around 8:30. Preston had already departed. He was quiet as a mouse or I slept like the dead. I felt dead when the alarm went off. I called Trey and got my breakfast and then made sandwiches for lunch. Then we were off, me focusing on every sign. I did not want to go towards Cleveland again.

Went up to the Hyatt room and gave Ed his clothes. He had not planned on staying in the Hyatt so he did not have a change of clothes there. Once he dressed we cleared the room and checked out. Then it was off to find our tables for our noon games. Weekend Warriors d20 was on my schedule, while Ed had ETU Savage Worlds on his. His voice was killing him, and Neal took over for him in a pinch. Really have to tip my hat to Neal. He is a stellar GM and he ran ETU twice (he ran it the first time the night before), having never read the adventure before. And he did a good job as I detected from player buzz.

My game of Weekend Warriors filled with six players. Which is just perfect. I added an NPC to keep them on story and I really had a good time running this group. We played to its conclusion and what an end fight. Everyone went away smiling. As it was the last game of the con or them, as soon as they finished they headed toward airports or along freeways back to their homes. Really had a good time playing with them.

While I ran Weekend Warriors, my camera took a little trip courtesy of Ed.

Players getting ready for some ETU fun at Neal’s table. You can look and see the necesseties of playing an RPG (roleplaying game) here on the table. Character sheets, dice, miniatures, and of course snacks and drinks.

Here the players are singing the ETU school fight song. Go Ravens!!!

Meanwhile at my table, the battlemat is depicting a parking lot, where zombies are chasing after the players. I’m just getting started too. They felt a little cocky when they saw the first dozen zombies. But I kept putting more zombies on the table and they decided running is not such a bad idea.

Neal Hyde, GM Extraordonaire. He’s like me too in that when he gets into the game he has to stand up and GM. Too excited to sit. lol

And as you can see he kept his players smiling.

After the game one of the players had the Clint Black bennie. She turned it in for an autographed copy of Clint Black’s Necessary Evil. Congratulations! And thanks Clint.

The mysterious Teller autographing someone’s book!

Joe and Jackie Unger (I hope I spelled her name right. She’s a sweet lady.) working the Pinnacle booth. Keeping it Savage!

Sean Preston and his buddy, Stacey Young were playing a lot of Sean’s Steampunk game at Origins. The folks that got to play had some really good times.

And the camera returned as the Weekend Warrriors game had moved to a lower level of the Top Secret Nuclear Chemical Weapons Laboratory. I used Flatlands to depict this basement level and it looks a lot better on the table than this photo portrays.

After the game closed up we went to Sean Preston’s suite and dropped our belongings. Then we headed across the street to an Italian place where I got my order right. Yep thats right. This time I did get lasagna and it was so good. Of course I forgot to take a picture. Doh!

But I had great company. I sat at a table with Ed, Clint and Jodi Black, the mysterious Teller, and Shane Lacy Hensley. Great gaming talk the entire dinner. Have a lot of motivation to get things done. Really exciting. I did have one embarrassing moment though. I did not realize who Teller was. I thought he worked for Studio 2. When I learned that he was Teller I really loosened up with him. Teller wrote Tour of Duty, a Viet Nam Weird War adventure that I absolutely love playing. We had a good time chatting about that and other mutual interests.

Then all of us went to Sean Preston’s room to play Runepunk. This was going to be awesome, as the creator, Sean Preston ran the game for us.

Clint and Jodi Black played in the game too. Awesome gamers and no one knows Savage Worlds rules better than Clint.

Sean Preston getting ready to play us across the mean streets of his Runepunk world. Shane and Teller were playing too. Talk about being excited. This was Ed’s and my dream to have the chance to play at a table with Shane.

As you can see Ed and I could not stop smiling. Even if my character is killed, he would die happy.

Mike Preston, Trey’s dance partner, and Trey read while we playing. Then they ran off a bit to watch Call of Cthulu a classic from the silent era of film.

And then it was over. Time to pack up and go back to our hotel near the airport. We arrived after two and packed our bags for morning flights. Neal slept in my room that night. We chatted about Chinese food until the wee hours and slumber over took us.

One thing I do not like about the truck I have now is there is not a lot of room to store things. And when it rains my kids school bags are not protected. I hate for them to arrive at school and have everything soaking wet.

Perhaps I should consider getting a truck toolbox to hold these things in. One of those chests might do the trick just right. And it would sure be nice to have some more room in that tight cab.

Well I got tagged a loooooooooooooooong time ago by Laymank. Sorry I have been so slow in doing this one my friend. Let me proceed without any more delay.

5 Things Found in Your Bag

1. Fork. Dirty from lunch
2. Empty cheese box. I had some Laughing Cow Cheese for a snack. Yum!
3. Lunch box. Empty now, but the grilled chicken it held was scrumptious.
4. Lunch box lid.
5. Steroids as prescribed by doctor. I am not a body builder.

5 Favorite Things Found In Your Room

1. My laptop. I must hug it when I get home.
2. My dice bag. Of course.
3. My miniatures.
4. My books.
5. My games.

5 Things I Have Always Wanted to Do

1. Publish a novel. And I mean a hard back by a major New York publisher too.
2. Design an award winning game. I know have a few inside me.
3. Play the guitar like Eddie Van Halen. Make it cry and scream just right.
4. Travel to southeast Asia. To see all my blogger friends.
5. Travel to Australia and New Zealand. To see other blogger friends and keep a promise to my bro. May he rest in peace.

5 Things You Are Currently Into

1. Getting my business started and that means earning money. Not just sitting on my ass with a hand full of business cards.
2. Playing roleplaying games with my kids. We have been playing Necessary Evil lately.
3. Desiging game products. I have several products, but I cannot be more specific at this time.
4. My mind is perculating on ETU (East Texas University). ETU is a setting book that 12 to Midnight is working on. This combines college life and horror. I have not written a word yet. But I am not worried. I tend to juggle ideas in my head. Once the faucet is turned on I will have plenty to spew onto the page.
5. Prepare to go to Orlando. Looking for some side trips as we shall drive there.

 Thats it. I am not tagging anyone. Just too lazy at moment. Bless you all. The weekend starts for me now. I promise to finish my Origins post tomorrow.

Everyone should have some financial planning. You should consider at a minimum to purchase a  term insurance policy. When my brother passed away last year he possessed no insurance policies at all. I had to scrape into my savings to take care of things. If he had term insurance, his passing would not have been financially painful as well as pschologically crushing.

No one likes to think of these kinds of things. But term insurance helps the ones you love when you leave. If you have children you want them to have a chance to go to college, don’t you. And what about your spouse? Get term insurance to remove some of the pain if you depart sooner than you may have planned on. Your loved ones shall have enough grief without a financial disaster added to the mix.

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

I took this test the other day and I sorted out Hufflepuff. Not exactly thrilled by the selection. Hufflepuff just sounds wimpy. Please come by and beat me up for my lunch money. But then I know a couple of ladies that also sorted out to Hufflepuff, so the dormitory common rooms will have good company. I had 14 points for Hufflepuff and another 14 for Ravenclaw. Now Ravenclaw. That’s a cool name for a house. Very Pinebox, Texas too as the East Texas University has the Ravens for a mascot. As for the rest of my scores, I had 8 for Griffendor and 7 for Slitherin.

Last Friday, my family plus my son’s friend went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I did not want to risk missing this show, so for the first time ever I preordered show tickets on the internet. We were able to get five tickets for the 4:10 matinee with each ticket costing $5.50 plus a buck for the service charge.

We went early too. The thought of sitting separately or on the front row was something I wanted to avoid. In the states movie theater tickets do not include reserved seating. We arrived at 3:30 and nowadays that is not so boring as they have a lot of previews before the trailers. The theater did not get crowded so my worry was for naught.

I thought the movie was okay, but I had no expectations as I rarely read a book before I see the flick. Everybody with me thought it was better than the last couple of flicks and they read the book. Several times.

My only problem with the movie was I did not like how Harry treated Cho Chang. I wanted some better resolution there. Some forgiveness or recognition that she was not… well I don’t want to risk spoiling anything. And the kiss was a bit long for a kids flick. Thought it was going to become Horny Potter for a second. Oh wait. For those who do not know who Cho is, here she is. 

Pretty cute huh? But not as cute as him!!!

The real hero of the Harry Potter movies. Come on. I know you want to see this guy more than Harry. muahahahaha!!!

Whats next for my Harry Potter days?

I preordered this book from Borders and they sent me an email. They wrote that I can pick the book up at midnight Friday and they promise to hold the book for me all day Saturday. They better hold it for me until I pick it up. I paid for the damn thing so it better be there or give me a refund. But I won’t challenge them as my daughter won’t wait. She wants to be there at midnight. Better remember my camera so I can snap some pictures of the event. Ought to be blogworthy.

What are you doing for your Harry Potter days?

I’m still looking for an Orlando vacation rental. Confirmed that we are going to see Mickey while he is wearing his Santa’s cap. When I get to my travel destination I like to be able to set up house. I want a fridge and to be able to give my kids a little space so they are not snapping at each other. Well at least more than normal.

Lowery’s Vacation Homes offers some choice Orlando vacation rental all year round. There are many houses and condos to rent listed here and some come with a pool also. Now that would put a smile on my kids’ faces. Well if it is not too cold this December. It is Florida so chances are they could swim during the day. Got to plan it out right.

Had a little scare. Lately, my left arm falls asleep really easy. You know that irritating tingling sensation. And then the tips of my thumb and two fingers next to that left thumb became numb. Thoughts of poor circulation and perhaps a heart attack or stroke filled my head. But I kept it mum.

It started when I joined the gym. I did mention it to my physical trainer and he did not say anything about it. The reason I did not tell the missus or any of my friends was I feared someone would tell me to go see the doctor and I would get stuck in the hospital and miss Origins. Pretty stupid logic but I am a male of the homo sapien species.

Well Tuesday I visited the doctor. Turns out weight lifting caused inflamation in my triceps and it affected a nerve (The radial I think the doc said) which makes those three fingers go numb and causes the arm to tingle. He prescribed steroids and antiinflamatories. I should also avoid excercise that might affect the inflamed area  for a couple of weeks. I hope my doctor friends that read my blog do not thump me for being so dumb. 

I have been a postie with Payperpost for a couple of months now. Now honestly, Paypepost won’t provide enough money to keep me home. But that is because I am not going to start several blogs and stalk the open opportunities page for the primo post opportunities. The money I do make is nice for building my CPA business and discretionary. This little extra money also pays for my blog hosting too. Nice to know my blog pays for itself now.

In the beginning I avoided blog marketing as I did not want to mix pleasure with business. But as I write more my writing becomes more of a business. Though I do hope that the writing shall someday provide enough payment all on its own. But until then blog marketing is a logical way to make a little extra dough.

I have seen a few folks that are really able to pursue blog marketing to the fullest. My hats off to them as I recognize the amount of effort it takes to write a blog post about all of these different products. There are a few products I have covered that may not really be 100% what I want to purchase, but I see this as a chance to be a word smith and give kudos to a good product or service. But that is marketing. Creating buzz for things that others may like, even though it may not be your favorite choice.

Please do not think I have become totally sucked into the dark side. Certain products do not get advertised on Simple America. I never provide blog marketing for a product that offends me, or goes against my values. Credit cards and loans have to walk on water before I consider them for an ad. To date I think I have only done one loan related post.

I detest debt, but I know certain purchases, homes and cars come to mind, require loans for most folks. While I possess credit cards, I use them like a deferred payment card and rarely pay interest to these companies. I doubt I will ever have a credit card advertised on this site. Hope all my readers use credit wisely, because credit can be quite a money sucker.

Honestly, I am glad to be a postie. The money coming into my Paypal account is nice. This month the Payperpost money earned shall buy my daughter’s school books and Battlestar Galactica Season One. Payperpost payments in the future shall cover business envelopes and flyers that I send to leads. And when I quit my job to go full time self employed, Payperpost opportunites can help provide me with discretionary spending. It’s expensive to be a game geek.

I am happy to be a postie. And I have nothing bad to say about Payperpost. I encourage other bloggers to come and join the Dark Side. The money is nice when it comes in. And any chance to write is good. Stretch your brain. Grow your wallet.

Hello everyone. Time for voting has come for the 2007 ENnies. At this time I would like to make sure that all of you who would like to vote for Fabled Environments’ Modern Floorplans: All Saints Church can do so. Voters please follow the links. Please do not miss out. You have until July 29th to vote for the ENnies.

 Look! There’s Roswell our 12 to Midnight logo.

Remember to vote for Modern Floorplans: All Saints Church. It can be found under 4. Type of Product by Medium in the Best Miniature Product category.

Thanks to all who support 12 to Midnight and Fabled Environments. Thanks to all my regular readers too. Just for visiting me like you do.