Simple America

The Marriott Downtown Orlando is in quite a nice location. If you are a fan of the NBA this is conveniently located across the street from the Amway Arena where the Orlando Magic play. They played the Washington Bullets the night we arrived, but I was too tired to think about looking into tickets. There is a civic cinter of some sort also located across the street where a local ballet production of The Nutcracker is playing.

Amway Arena as seen from my room on the 15th floor.

A look at our room and all of our baggage. No light travelling here.

Rugrats watching the cartoon channel. The hotel also had a lovely breakfast buffet. We pigged out the two mornings we stayed there.

For the first day we went to EPCOT. I always have enjoyed this park. When we went to pay for the tickets we learned that you can add on to your tickets within two weeks of the purchase. This is nice as it provides the visitor a lot of flexibility. And as you add more days the price is much cheaper. Once you get beyond four days the addtional days only cost two bucks a day. Another thing to do when purchasing tickets is make sure they know if you have a special celebration. Our anniversary is near and they gave the missus and I both button to wear announcing our celebration. This has been nice as the staff often greets us with a congratulations. When we visited the American area in the Nations area of EPCOT they actually gave us a certificate to commemorate the day. They also had us call a special number where Mickey and the gang wished us a happy anniversary too. Really was a cute gretting. And then we were given premium seating for the show.

Here is the cert they gave us. Made us feel really special.

On Sunday we visited Universal Studios’ City Streets. The missus wanted to meet a pair of her work mates from IBM. We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. The food was fair, but I loved the atmosphere and all of the rock and roll items on display. After lunch we moved to the Hilton Grand Vacations Club resort on International Drive.

This resort provides us a lovely suite. The kids loved the extra space and the opportunity to not hear my snores at night.

The dining room table is a lovely place to have breakfast and dinner. Behind it there is a full kitchen with the utensils we need for cooking. And they have Starbucks coffee for us as well. I like this place.

Beyond this door lay the bedroom for the missus and I. The kids had a sofa bed to rest upon.

There was a huge tub with whirl pool and a walk in shower that allowed me to stretch my arms out fully without touching the sides. I enjoy this bathroom a great deal.

And there are two sinks to speed things up in the morning. Quite nice marble upon these counters here.

The kids discovered they could hook up the X-Box here. After spending a bit too much time at lunch with out excellent companies we decided to chill out in the room rather than go to MGM Studios. Later in the evening we visted Disney Downtown. There are many shops located here. They have the best Disney store located here. If you should come this way, you really owe it to yourself to visit the Disney Downtown. There is no fee to enter this area and you should not miss it.

Thursday was the day of departure. We planned to pick my son up when school let out and drive from there on to Orlando. But with last minute preparations, we were not even close to being ready to leave. Sent my girl to retrieve the boy, while we packed and prepped road food. Then I suggested we leave at midnight after a nap. I felt tired and the missus looked beat as well. When the bags were all packed the missus agreed some rest would be beneficial. I looked at the travel itinerary and estimated the drive would be 19 hours. If we had left at the original time we would have sat around Orlando waiting for our room to become available. Forget that. I knew we would be tired after the drive to boot.

Three years ago my family went to Vegas for Thanksgiving holidays. Part of the fun of Las Vegas is walking the strip and exploring the different themed properties. Paris Las Vegas is one of those stops that really impressed me. They have a lot of French landmarks on their property. The most notable being the Eiffel tower, which has a restaurant on the eleventh floor with a great view of the town.

Inside the hotel you can find many great shops, and more dining choices. The best thing is experiencing France without fumbling through a French-English Dictionary. You can find some premiere shows inside as well. And this is Vegas so the casino is nearby when you need to roll some dice or yank on the one-armed bandits.

When you tire of the hustle and bustle of Las Vegas go up to your room. These rooms are comfortably furnished with European style furnishings. Take a nap. Watch a little TV. Don’t forget to take advantage of the internet access and blog about your day.

My phone’s camera has made me dangerous. Why do I suggest that?

See what happens to my passengers. Fall asleep and you too can be a star on my blog.

Now when I get bored at work. *snap*

Even I am not safe from me. What to do?

Even other drivers are subject to this camera. Though I am trying to show my readers a real low rider. Got to figure out how to use the zoom feature. Can you tell that truck’s undercarriage is only a short distance above the ground.

After a tough day of taking pictures I go home and my missus says there is no food in the ice box. So she just thossed something together.

See how I suffer on these kind of days?

The next day I returned to the Malay Bistro. My son had Boy Scouts, so I took advantage to visit this restaurant for the third time in as many weeks. This time I ordered asam laksa, roti canai, and teh tarik.

I had tried asam laksa twice before at another Malaysian restaurant and it was prepared a lot different there. I remember the other restaurant used a glutinous noodle and the broth had a yellowish tint. This laksa has rice flour noodles chopped to a very short length. It included some small fish akin to mackeral and a pair of nice sized shrimp. They had chopped up bitter gourd, purple onion, and cilantro into very fine thin strips. And the broth looked to be brown and I am uncertain what they used for a base. There was some chili hiding in the bottom of the bowl, which gave it a nice bite. But overall I did not like this laksa and shall not order it here. I do not like how they prepare the asam laksa at all. My tummy rumbled the rest of the evening, and it takes a lot to make me feel this kind of discomfort.

Also I noted the dhal sauce was not as spicey this time. My eyes did not tear once while eating my roti canai. Very dissappointing.

I had my first teh tarik during this meal. They served it in a tall teacup and it was sweet, but just right for my taste. I expected the tea to be bitter and was delighted that it was not. The menu says that the tea is pulled. I do not know what that means.

I need a Malaysian to come visit me so I can get some idea on the quality of these foods. Who wants to volunteer? If you get here I have a guest room with internet access. Even has a PC if you don’t bring a laptop.

Since I was a young boy I have loved history. In college I minored in history and if I should ever pursue another degree it shall most likely be a history major. One of my favorite topics is the American Civil War. Once I retire I hope to get an RV and cruise from one battlefield to the next. Finding Military Campgrounds is really going to help me achieve this quest for history.

At Allstays.com they provide links to the Military Campgrounds‘ websites, contact numbers, and traveler reviews. They list locations in all 50 states so there is no limit to your travels. Why travel blind? Make your arrangements and then relax as you hop from one historical spot to the next.

I had been talking about my little truck and Pinkie asked to see a picture of this vehicle. So here it is:

It’s old, ugly and needs a bath but it drives real good for a ‘97. It has less than 30,000 mile (50,000 km) on it. This used to be my brother’s truck. At the current rate I drive I will double the mileage by this time next year. Another reason to leave this job soon. Mileage shall go down a great deal once I only have to walk upstairs to go to work.

I took some pictures on the drive to work a couple of weeks ago when that hurricane was skirting my part of Texas. Sorry for the poor quality, but I am trying to stay on the road.

Dark clouds looming over the street where I lived. Man I wanted to stay home so bad.

Lot of camera shake. Still driving in my neighborhood. Rising sun is peeking through.

Raindrops hit the windshield as I approach the intersection of 99 and Interstate 59. Lot of construction going on here. Will they ever finish?

Driving in the rain towards the George Ranch about 5 miles from my house.

Buildings on the George Ranch property. There is a creek near here that is the home to aligators. Been trying to snap a picture of them, but no luck as of yet. One day an aligator actually sun bathed next to the rode as everyone drove by.

Cows getting ready for the promotion to McDonalds and Taste of Texas Steakhouse.

Back home that evening. I tried to catch those sunflowers for some of you readers. I recall a few of you receiving sunflowers lately. Yours were much larger than these. I need a zoom. The buildings in the background are part of the mall adjacent to my neighborhood. I can walk to this location in less than ten minutes.

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.

I must apologize. My posts are so slow. Hopefully I can ge the pictures of Origins day four uploaded later today. But if you want to see more of Origins and get another view, then visit my partner Flametoad. He has some really good pictures of yours truly there. I am so photogenic.    Flametoad is an interesting blog to boot. Go and visit today. 

Saturday morning came so quick. And I was a bear. Ed was feeling giddy as we drove to the Convention Center and me not being a morning person I totally missed the highway to downtown Columbus. Kept going and I looked for downtown Columbus, but saw a Budweiser brewery that I had not seen before. So I turned back wishing I had some duct tape.

We called the guys at the Hyatt and asked them to bring our stuff down to the gaming rooms. When we got to the Convention Center, Ed and I bailed while Trey parked the car. When we got up there I was supposed to run Weekend Warriors for Savage Worlds. I really wanted to do this, as I had never ran Weekend Warriors in that game system before. Origins did not have a table assigned for me. I went to RPGHQ and their computer was down. I waited and waited with another guy that was running a game for a system I cannot remember. His name was Bob (I think) and we both talked about Savage Worlds a bit. My game was supposed to start at ten and it was 10:15 before they got the computer working. I looked my table and found only one player. Wonder how many gave up on me. Thanks Origins staff. We put the player in Ed’s Savage Worlds morning game and I was free until three.

Preston keeping all of the paper work in order.

Ed warming the players up. I cannot remember what game he was running at the time.

Ed getting the gaming moving.

Since I had so much free time I decided to go and have a little fun while I could. Trey joined me and we headed to the vendor’s room. There I bought the Hack card game. Then we went and played Settler of Catan. I have the game at home, but Trey had never played the game before. And the set we played on was beautiful and it better be with a price tag of $380. The pieces were all nicely painted pewter and they came in a beautiful wooden chest. There was a drawing to give one away, but I had no time to play enough games to try to win.

At three o’clock I went to the seminar area. I had volunteered to give a seminar on how to start a game business. I expected a handful of people at best. Much to my surprise there were around 20 to 30 people present (people go in and out all the time) to listen to me talk about encorporation and accounting for a business. I talked steady for an hour and five minutes. Totally overran my time and the organizers stuck their head in to say, “Hey can we let the next seminar in?”

Truly I was buzzed from the enthusiasm of chatting with all of these game designers. Then this guy walks up to me wearing a 12 to Midnight t-shirt. I read his name tag and it is Jeff Varnes of Dirty Unicorn Games. So now I am even higher. Greater to finally meet the man that does all of those great Flatland products.

Ed and Jeff.

While I was yakking about exciting things, like business organizations, contracts, and inventory, Ed attended the Pinnacle games seminar announcing coming products. Ed sat in the audience when Shane Hensley called him up to sit at the tables with the rest of the Pinnacle staff. Shane was great, allowing Ed to pitch our products to all of the hard core Savage Worlds fans in this room. Shane riddles him with questions about ETU. And the room was bigger than the other seminar rooms I had seen and nary an empty seat I am told. Ed was excited as they previewed Slaughter Gultch a miniature Deadlands game. One of the maps had a building with his name on it. Too bad we cannot post that one, but it is forbidden for now. Look for it in Febraury I think.

After that we went back to the gaming area, so Preston and Neal could meet Jeff. We also got to meet Jeff’s lovely wife and I am such a dolt I cannot remember her name now. Wish I was a people person instead of a numbers guy. She was a sweet lady and Jeff is a lucky guy let me tell ya.

Then Jeff had to go as his ride was there, not to mention his kids. Trey and I decided to go and hang out in the vendors area again. That is when I bought my kids their diseases. Trey bought some figures for his daughter. And then we decided to go out before we spent all our cash. Trey went to the art exhibit, while I went to the restroom. When I went out I decided to just sit a bit and wait for the other guys to walk down. What I did not know was they had already caught up to Trey in the art exhibit and were chatting with the artist, Andy Hop. While they were there the kid that plays the son of Indiana Jones in the next movie came by the table. I miss all of the celebreties. Almost forgot to mention that Jeff met Richard Hatch of Battlestar Gallactica. Rats. I missed him.

We went to have dinner then. Walked straight across the street to this pub. Cannot remember the name, Barney’s I think. There I had a local wheat beer and ravioli. And I am such a dolt (yes again) I thought I ordered lasagna and was really disappointed. It affected me a bit and I led the way out of the restaurant. Did not notice the rest of the group had stopped. I just wanted to get out of the place as it was loud and I wanted some fresh air. Why did they stop? Because the people from Knights of the Dinner Table stopped them no less. This is a gamer comic strip and one of my favorites. They also created the card game I just bought called Hack. Dang. I missed the celebreties once more.

We went back towards the room and found Ed’s fan, Nathaniel. Told him to follow us and we would give him some freebies. Poor guy had to wait for us to make an ice cream stop too. But eventually we made it the room and gave him a copy of Bloodlines, which we then all autographed for him. He seemed pretty happy. Hope we can game with him someday.

We hung out in the room and it felt good to just sit for a bit. Then we learned that Shane won an Origins award for his Deadlands Reloaded. Joe Unger found a room where we could celebrate by playing some Savage Worlds. There were four tables of Savage Worlds games running, three by 12 to Midnight. I finally got the chance to run Weekend Warriors in this system, while Neal ran the East Texas University (ETU) intro and Ed ran Chickens in the Mist. The fourth table had a preview of Solomon Kane, a new Pinnacle title due out later this year, based on the Robert Howard Puritan hero.

I had a great table of players. Disappointed that I did not take a picture of them. Once I get in game I get so focused I forget about things like taking pictures or writing down the participants names. Bob from the morning was there, as was Heath who had played Chickens in the Mist with me on Thursday. Norm Hensley sat with us and I am glad as he knows the rules really good and his presence helped me a great deal. I remember seeing him on the PEG forums so it was a treat for me to have him at the table. Trey sat with us also, despite having read the module. He did a good job roleplaying and any game knowledge he possessed did not spoil it for other players. That is not always easy to achieve, but Trey did it quite well.

The game went well. It was really exciting in the ammo dump too. The players were trying to rush a .50 caliber machine gun and I kept spending bennies to keep the gunner fit for the fight. We did not finish the module as three o’clock came really quick and we needed to get some shuteye before our scheduled ten o’clock game later that morning.

We dropped our stuff in the Hyatt room. Preston and Neal said goodbye as Preston was going back to the suburbs with us, while Ed stayed in the Hyatt. Preston’s flight was in the morning.

Once we were rested a bit, we headed back to the con to explore a bit. Friday saw a lot of folks arriving as you can gather from this view of the registrtion desk.

We peeked into the minatures room. There were some beautiful tables set up for a variety of miniatures gaming ranging from fantasy to historical conflicts.

This volcanic island set up was quite elaborate. I am not sure what rules system they used for the game. But it consisted of four teams fighting to become King of the Island. They teams fought each other, as well the island’s natives and a host of monsters that dwelt on land and in the sea. Dry ice was used at times to provide a nice visual. While I did not see the game played (and I would have loved to participate) I heard that the island could be separated to reveal a cavern complex that needed to be conquered as well.

This thing is huge. Over three foot tall or a meter if you prefer.

Here is a historical scenario, that depicts a European town. I am not certain what armies are represented here, though the flag is either Dutch or French.

I loved this Egyptian table. Whoever prepared this scenario is using real sand and not just a sand floss in the presentation. I think the battle is representing the Egyptian revolt against the British, though once again I am not certain. I wish I could have played some of these games. Miniatures can be a lot of fun and so pretty on a well made table.

After that we returned to the dealers room. This time my hands were more free, so I took some pictures of this huge area full of gaming goodness, t-shirts, and books. I could walk in with a thousand bucks and still walk out wanting something. Guess I am a geeky glutton in that regard.

There are lot of game demos taking place in this area. I love being able to try a game out and if I like it, I can buy it right there. Usually at a con special too.

Do you dare to go inside the Reaper castle. Muahahahaha! Great place to find some cool fantasy miniatures.

There were also some nice miniature diaramas to attract shoppers to a product. I loved this medeival town, that is having a really bad day. Invasion and dragons, all in the same day. That truly makes for a horrid day.

I bought some gaming books for Spycraft and some Legend of the Five Rings cards. Also visited the Paizo Publishing book where I purchased their latest adventure, the Crown of the Kobold King. I also had a chance to look at their new Critical Hit Deck and bought that too. This deck lets you have more realistic damage when using archaic weapons and magic. While chatting with Paizo’s rep, I asked if there would be a deck for modern weapons. Guns and bombs can cause different folks. He introduced us to some other Paizo folks and before I knew it, we had been introduced to the CEO of Paizo. Nice to meet one of the major industry publishers. Cannot say more about what we discussed.

After that we headed out into Columbus to find some grub. We were feeling mighty hungry in fact. On the way, Trey found a willing dance partner.

We went to Brothers, which reminds me of what we call and Ice House in Texas. I went to the restroom and received a call from Neal Hyde. He had just arrived and made the call from his cab. I told him to join us Brothers and gave him the directions and time estimate, so the cab driver would not cheat him.

Ed, Preston, Neal, Trey. (Left to right)

Ed, Neal, Me, Trey’s Dancing Partner.

We found the Hyatt hallway on floor 19 to be very long and spooky. What do you think?

Later that evening we went down to the role playing game area. Neal ran us through an adventure that I believe we are going to produce somewhere down the road. Had a great time playing. We did not get to play the entire adventure and I regret that we did not finish this later on.

Neal GMing for us. What’s behind that screen? Can I peek?

Trey going for a snack I think. Good gaming always includes snacking.

Ed and Preston putting on their game face.

Ed, myself, and my dice. Don’t touch unless you have good luck to pass on to them.

Once we finished playing we took a closer look at the miniatures room.

There were four long bridges set up for each team to start out.

As you take a look at this detail, so much of this model is customized or probably home made. I love the string he used on the rope bridges.

Look at the bottom. There is a damsel in distress, awaiting rescue.

The natives have set up a barricade here.

Cool looking altar set up in the volcanic heights.

I think these are the ships that are used in the game. They shared the same table cloth and that is what I base my assumption on. Plus they are down right, as is the entire model.

I love these pyramids. Can I conquer them and take them home? The missus would be so thrilled.

Check out that sand. I need a drink of water as I’m parched just from a glance.

And here we have fighting in Russia against the Nazis. Would have loved to play this one too.

They dragged me kicking and screaming out of the mini room and we headed back to the hotel. Where I blogged the first part of this entry. Day Three shall be posted shortly.