GenCon 06 wrap (Part II: Thursday)

Okay, so I said more on the shepard's pie would come later. It was Thursday morning in fact when I finished it. Sure, it was safe-and-sound in its little styrofoam package overnight - but I had not put it on ice and nor put it in a refrigerator (something our Motel 6 hotel room lacked). Did I die from it? Obviously not. Was it safe to eat? See previous question & answer. Was Adam & David grossed out? Yeah, I think I might have ruined their breakfast appetites.

So we got up and drove downtown. I needed more packs of Ultra-Pro sleeves and a box of Hunters to try and get the two cards I needed for my Day 2 Rings deck: a Mountain-Troll and the new Gloin. So the first place we stopped was the convention hall for an hour. I got both the cards I needed in my box (yes!) and got the rare Aragorn, too. You bet I was stoked. Meanwhile Adam purchased a Second Edition booster box.

What sucked was Ultra-pro didn't bring any product for the convention attendees to purchase. Uh, hello? This isn't an industry trade show. GAMA in Las Vegas covers that. Let your consumers buy your product! Sure, it's nice to give out free samples, let people spin your wheel to win prizes and tell them other booths in the hall where to buy Ultra-Pro products... but if you actually attend the convention and set up a booth... sell your goods! You did it in the past, why not now? (End of rant)

David wondered off to see the computer games being shown off in the convention hall (he's an avid online gamer). More on that later. Adam and I headed to the gaming hall where we learned Decipher again had not supplied Paul (Rings tournament guru) or Charlie (Trek dAgent) product for their sealed deck tournaments. Ugh! You'd think after it happened at Origins they would have learned their lesson. After some nudging we got them to agree that players who wanted to play in a sealed event could go buy their product in the convention hall.

Since there was just three players who wanted to play in the Trek Day 1 Sealed tournament and only Adam and I had paid the $22 entry fee, Charlie fairly decided to pre-qualify us for Day 2 and give us our prize support for entering the tournament. That freed us up to play in the Race to the Alpha Quadrant 2E tournament.

Since neither Adam nor I thought we were going to play in the event, we didn't bring constructed decks with us from the hotel room. So I gave Adam $5 and he back to the convention hall and bought some combo boxes. We made two decks out of mostly commons and uncommons and just a few rares. Suffice to say we went a combined 1-5. The one win... me against Adam - thanks in part to a well-timed Vastly Outnumbered dilemma. It caused him to lose five points and forced him solve a fourth mission if he want the victory. Of course, my quickly constructed deck included three 30 point missions. That meant I HAD to solve all four of my missions. Ugh, but I was able to do it! We have fun and got good prize support. Thanks Charlie!

David ventured around to the gaming hall eventually after almost becoming a company volunterr. He stuck around this one booth for awhile. After viewing and playing the demo, one of the company volunteers had to go to lunch and asked David to step in and show how the game operated to an interested convention-goer. Hey, isn't that how you become a beta-tester?

After our tournament wss over David, Adam, Paul and I went to dinner at RAM. The chicken salad I had was good... but the best was the bread pudding dessert. Adam ordered it for us. Yummy! I had never had this English dessert before but RAM does it right. Well, maybe a certain Indiana Trek 1E player who's originally from England could review it sometime. RAM's on-site brewed beers aren't half bad either.

We eventually made it back to the hotel where I aided Adam in shrinking his Day 2 Trek deck down to about 60 cards. Then it was time to hit the sack and get ready for Friday... only, maybe I should have set my cell phone alarm... oops!

GenCon 06 wrap (Part I: Wednesday)

So I took Wednesday off from work to get my stuff packed on Tuesday night. If you didn't know already, I work overnights so that makes sense. I was able to organize my trade binders, built four decks I would choose from for Lord of the Rings Day 2), playtested those decks with a friend at his house, and got my Trek cards ready.

Wednesday came and I got up early to get clothes packed, computer packed (in case the hotel had high-speed internet access which it didn't), and my cards I would be bringing put into boxes.

I was running late to the airport - nothing unusual there. There was a commuter plane that made an emergency landing at TIA (Tampa International Airport) about 40 minutes before I arrived. CNN had showed it live. I hoped that might delay my flight by five to ten minutes. It didn't, but I breezed through security and got to the gate while they were boarding. The only problem I had was the security attendant before the monorail ride to the individual terminal didn't want me to go ahead with three bags - despite the fact I carried three bags to the AirTran gate before and checked one of them there. Was this his first week on the job?

An uneventful flight to Atlanta later I was standing at a gate waiting standby for the next flight out to Indianapolis. I had used a frequent flyer coupon for my flight to GenCon... but that required a six hour layover in Atlanta unless a spot opened up on the next plane. I was crossing my fingers because if I didn't make it I would have Adam and David (the guys from Orlando I was rooming with) waiting in Indy for me for over three hours.

I passed the time playing Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories on my PSP. I usually only play the game while travelling. I was able to pass three missions this time. I got lucky and was able to get on the earlier flight thanks to five people not showing up.

So I made it to Indianapolis. Met up with Adam (who I know from the Orlando Trek scene) and David (one of Adam's friends who I didn't know). We got the rental car and headed to the hotel. Got our luggage inside athe room nd went downtown to register for the convention.

As the norm, the wait time to get event tickets was nearly an hour long. We decided to regiater for our Thursday events the next day. So we just paid our $70 and got our bags. Adam saw a Pirates expansion pack was included... so he quickly grabbed my pack (I don't play that game). The other pack included in each bag was for the upcoming EVE: The Second Genesis game. David plays EVE online so he was interested so see those cards. In the three packs we got two really cool foils.

From there we headed to dinner at Claddagh's Irish Pub. Adam and I both ordered the Sheppard's Pie. It was delicious. I also got a pint of Guinness. You know it's good for you right? The waitress did make one mistake. We order potato skins as an appetizer but she thought Adam said Oysters... oops. I couldn't finish my entire plate so I had the leftovers put in a to-go box (more on that later).

We headed back to the hotel... where I looked over some of my cards. David and Adam were reading through the event guide. Then we turned on the TV and watched South Park and Futurama. Right before I turned the television off, I changed the channel over to CNN - and wow, the shit had hit the fan in Britain. Yup, that's when we learned our flights home might be a bit more interesting after the arrest of terrorist suspects. After that it was lights out...

illing

So I get home from GenCon early Monday morning... and learn I brought back a consolation prize with me - a flu bug. I had been planning on writing about my weekend in Indy earlier this week (and I still plan to), but this flu has got me sleeping probably 10-12 hours a day. I am feeling better than I did two days ago - less drainage, but more coughing.

I'll try to write about my GenCon experiences this weekend... so keep an eye out for that.

Ten times bigger than the Super Bowl

Americans misunderstand the importance the next has on the rest of the world. Well, at least most Americans. Thirty-two countries have a shot at bragging rights for the next four years over every other country in the world... to become Earth's soccer super-power.

The 2006 World Cup begins today in Germany. I've watched nearly every Cup game televised since 1994 when the US was the host country. Maybe it's because soccer takes qualities from baseball, football and chess like I like it alot.

In baseball the offense is directed by one person... the batter. In soccer it's the man with the ball. A soccer game can end up 1-0 - just like a baseball game... and still be called a classic. That's because a great defense can stifle a great offense - like great pitching can shutdown great hitting.

In football you use set plays to march up and down the field. While soccer is more fluid (almost to hockey like a point) you still try to set up connections between your best players. You want a Langdon Donovan connecting with DaMarcus Beasley just like Philadelphia Eagles fans wanted another Donovan to connect with TO (when they weren't feuding).

In chess you have to be aware of how your opponent is trying to defeat you and try and direct them into a trap. Very similiar to how the best players in soccer weave throught the opposing team's pawns to strike at the goal line by taking what the other team is giving you and using that to your advantage.

A billion people will watch the World Cup this year - ten times more that view the Super Bowl. I'll be one of those viewers. I'm of course rooting along with the rest of Sam's Army and hoping Team USA has a great showing... maybe even getting to the semi-final game! It all begins Monday against a powerful, yet hurting, Czech team. If our boys can win that one... a team from CONCACAF might finally raise the golden trophy.

Yo quiero Taco Bell

 
Sorry for all you Mexican-food eating chihuahuas out there... the combo-restaurants do come without a run to the border.

Looking for the right look

My hockey team is moving up to the newly-created 'D'-league after winning the adult beginners league two weeks ago. We're going to get actual hockey jerseys with a logo and a team name.


The logo we're using is from High Stick and the skull & crossed hockey sticks is similar to a pirate flag... hence the team name: Pirates. It's a good name since Tampa was once a haven for pirates back in the 1700s.

The jerseys are the Buffalo Sabres black ones along with Buffalo's black socks. The combination works great because the logo & jersey both have the same colors: red, black, white and grey. I can't wait to play our first game on the summer season on May 27th!

Arrows from the South

Well... I now have a bye into Day 2 of the 2006 Lord of the Rings TCG World Championships. That's the second year in a row I accomplished that. Yay me!

Last Saturday we had nine people show up in Orlando for the Florida TOC. That's the same number we had a year ago, but well off the 2004 attendance when a number of players drove down from Atlanta. In 2005, I won the TOC by taking advantage of my opponent's mistakes in round four and was able to beat a very good Nobel Leaders deck.

This year was different - I didn't win the tournament (but at least finishing second this year guaranteed me a bye). I went in with an Saved From the Fire Gandalf Ents/Southern Archery deck. No one could touch my Fellowship... but it was my Shadow side that keyed my victories.

The only deck I ended up having a problem with was a Ring-Bound Hobbit/Orc Corruption deck. Yeah, my opponent forced me to add some burdens but I was able to them take off. Unfortunately I wasn't able to draw either of my two 'Discovered's until my opponent's Fellowship was at site eight. Had I drawn them earlier I could have discard both of their 'Sudden Fury's and two of their 'A Promise's (he had three burdens quite often). While my archers were able to keep Sam and Smeagol exhausted much of the time, thus he couldn't control the site path, I was unable to finish them off. Plus, by having all Ring-Bound companions it made my three copies of Haradrim Marksman totally useless to play. In the end I have to give props to Brandon on that deck and the way he played it.

As for my three wins, the Southern archery totally destroyed my opponent's unbound companions with the previously mentioned Haradrim Marksman. Though in two of the cases I wasn't able to kill off or corrupt the Ring-Bearer until site 9... which was a little too close for comfort.

So with the Day 2 bye... I can now try and qualify for Trek Day 2 at either the North Americans Continental Championship at Origins or Day 1 of Worlds at GenCon. But based on my previous experience, I'll be playing Rings on Friday in Indianapolis. See ya all there!

"We are the champions..."

Well my first adult ice hockey league has come to a successful close. We won our championship playoff game on Saturday 2-0 over Team Yellow. It was probably one of the coolest experiences in my life.

All thirteen members of our team showed up - which was the first time that had happened in probably two-and-a-half months. The only downfall for me was I had to cut short my Florida Star Trek 2006 TOC. I finished just three of the scheduled five rounds before having to leave. I left at 3pm. Thank God I did because if I had left any later from from Orlando, I would have been late to Brandon because the traffic on I-4 was pretty bad for the first 25 miles.

For the first time all year the scoreboard operator played the National Anthem before the start of the game. I believe that was the first time I have ever played in a game where the anthem was played. It was unexpected... and yet, pretty damn cool!

I played like crap for the first half of the game. I'm not going to make excuses... but in the future I found the night before a game I shouldn't: rollerblad four miles; stay up to 4am working on a Trek deck; and get only four hours of sleep. That's not even including driving to-and-from Orlando and eating nothing before the game. About midway through the second period I was finally able to find my legs.

My line was on the ice when our first goal scored. My centerman zoomed to the net, shot the puck and one of the defenseman got to the rebound and flipped it in. A great goal! That might have been his first one of the season, too. Then our best player scored the second goal and Larry, our MVP goalie, made a few great saves to preserve the shutout.

After mobbing Larry at the goal, we shook hands with the other team and celebrated at center ice as our picture was taken with the Cup (a trophy cup on a square wooden base attached to a beer keg that has previous winning team's names on name plates attached to it). Let me just say that lifting the Cup over my head wasn't easy - the darn thing is quite heavy. I guess I really should have eaten my Wheaties that morning.

After changing in the locker room we celebrated at the rink's bar getting free beer and wings. Then we talked about moving up to the newly-formed Adult "D" League as an entire team. Five of our players aren't be allowed to play in the beginner's league next season (which starts May 4th) - they're too good. So the choice was to move up as a team or the ones allowed to stay in the beginner's league would form a new Team White to fill the empty slots. We decided to move up (though I think 1-2 players will not join us) because we like playing together. We're also thinking about buying real team jerseys - instead of wearing practice ones with the numbers melted on.

So was it worth the money to join the league? You bet! It was lots of fun. I got some good exercise. I made some new friends. And I won a championship. Very cool!

Quack!

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