Movie Review: Chocolat

Summary: Chick flick about a chocolatier in France who helps a town break out of their shell.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review: This wasn't a bad movie. I actually liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Johnny Depp has a small role in it and does a great job, as always. Not much to say about it, just don't watch it on an empty stomach. The chocolate in this movie looks really good. Maybe I was just hungry.

Movie Review: Aeon Flux

Summary: Futuristic action/adventure with lots of cool gadgets and mutant plants.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review: I remember the cartoon that was on MTV about 10-15 years ago. It was dark, complicated, and had an amazing animation style. It was a fantastic show, even though the plot didn't always make sense. Charlize Theron takes the lead in the movie that is only loosely based on the animated series. If you go into this movie just expecting some good visuals and excellent futuristic stuff, you will not be disappointed. The movie takes place in the distant future where much of the human race has died and the rest of them have gathered together into one city to live an idealized life. Or do they? Aeon Flux doesn't think so, and she is a member of a secret group trying to figure out what is going on behind the scenes. Fun movie.

Jacob's First Holiday Program

Here you go:

Movie Review: Ratatouille

Summary: Pixar movie about a rat cooking.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review: Pixar can not go wrong. They continue to have great movies with Ratatouille. Once you can get past the creepiness of having a rat in the kitchen, this turns out to be another hit from Pixar. If your greatest fear is seeing a swarm of rats in your house, don't rent this movie. I could see someone getting totally freaked by the sea of rats in a couple scenes. Good movie, though. Totally impossible, as all Pixar movies seem to be; but there is a lot of clever dialog that makes this a keeper.

Movie Review: Borat

Summary: Guy from Kazakhstan visits America and is totally ignorant of our customs.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review: This was one funny movie. For some reason, I wasn't expecting to like this movie as much as I did. The concept of the movie is that Borat is a foreigner who is visiting America to learn the culture to better Kazakhstan. The guy who plays Borat is a comedian and did a fantastic job with his foreign character. He kept in character even when his life was in danger! Now, that's devotion.

It was very funny to watch people pushed to their limits with the idiot Borat. The movie tried to see how much weirdness people would put up with before finally breaking down and stop helping or just leave. For some reason, it seemed like the conservatives, "Go America" people, Texans, police, and religious types turned out to be the biggest jerks to Borat. It was the prostitutes, minorities, and women who were the most accommodating to the foreign visitor. Excellent movie that was far funnier than I expected. And I went in thinking it would be good.

Jacob's New Bed and New School

Jacob will be starting "school" next week. He's going to Kinder Garden DayCare. It seems like a nice daycare/school. They do a lot of interactions with the kids and Jacob will be exposed to a lot of new things. Plus, he will get to hang out with a lot of kids his age. It should be a good thing.

So, the other day, Jacob went down for a nap. After about an hour we could hear him moaning and starting to wake up. A few minutes later, the floor above our head gave a loud "thump!". I walked upstairs and opened the door, and Jacob was standing there with a look like "I did it!". He had flipped out of his crib, which is about 4-5 feet above the ground.

So, combined with the fact the he can now escape the crib and the fact that he will be napping in a cot at daycare, we decided to move him to a "big boy" bed. We got him backyardigans sheets and pillowcases, so he loves that part. He does cry when we put him down, now. We're only on day 2, though. He's actually doing pretty well. He was hilarious that first morning when he woke up in his new bed. He was looking around like he had no idea what was going on.

Movie Review: Zathura

Summary: Jumanji set in space.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review: This movie was lots of fun. This is somewhat a sequel to Jumanji. Zathura is a board game that two kids start playing and the game becomes real, too real. Jumanji was set in the jungle, this was in space. Excellent. If this movie had come out before Jumanji, I would have voted it much higher. Unfortunately, this movie had the same exact feel. It just wasn't "new" enough.

Overall, I thought it was a really good movie with some exciting space scenes. If you liked Jumanji, you would like this as well. Too bad this one didn't come out first.

Movie Review: Dan in Real Life

Summary: Chick flick with the guy from "The Office".

Rating: 8.0 out of 10

Review: Good chick flick. Steve Carell is great! It is a chick flick, though. But, a funny one. So, I'm torn. Funny actor, funny movie versus a chick flick. Oh, well. I guess I liked it a lot.

The movie is about a widowed guy and his three daughters. They leave for the annual family vacation with all the relatives in a cabin on a lake/ocean. He finds love, gets yelled at by his daughters, and gets advice (even though he doesn't want it) from the rest of the family.

I told you it was a chick flick. But, really, it is a good movie. Lots of laughs.

Movie Review: Sin City

Summary: Dark, "comic book" style, film noir about murder, torture , and all things violent.

Rating: 4.0 out of 10

Review: Visually, this movie was great. It combined film noir with a good dark comic book style. You felt as if the comic book had come alive and you were watching the story from inside the book. The problem was with the violence. About half of the way through the movie I was hoping that it would end so that I didn't have to watch another torture scene. There were a lot of torture scenes. It felt like a Quentin Tarantino- style film (in fact, he was a guest director). You can tell this was a Frank Miller movie, though. It had the same kind of look as 300. Another problem was that the plot was pretty confusing. I normally enjoy a confusing plot, but this one was kind of hard to follow. Maybe I closed my eyes too many times. If you like Quentin Tarantino, you may like this movie. It was not for me.

Portal: A great PC game!

I just got a new PC game. It's been a long time since I've played a game this good. The game in question is Portal. Portal is a puzzle game with some excellent humor thrown about.

The main component of the game is the portal gun. You play a character that has to work her way through the level using this unique device. The gun can shoot two portal: an orange one and a blue one. Your character can then walk through one portal and pop out the other. This is the basis of the game. But, once you think about shooting portals on the ceiling and flying through the air to shoot another portal just before you hit the ground, it opens up a lot of possibilities. You will end up flying across the rooms to solve the puzzles. Great fun.

The comedy in the game is what makes this a fantastic game. The plot unveils itself as the game progresses, so I won't ruin it for you. But, trust me, this game is worth the money just to hear some of the quotes from the computer character. AND, it is only $20. Pretty good price. The main game is not very long, but there are a lot of advanced puzzles and extra goals. Plus, eventually, more levels will be available for purchase and user submitted levels will be available, too.

Check out the trailer for some gameplay footage and some of the humor.

Trailer: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1299927595688205543

New York Vacation Pictures

Here are some pictures from our vacation.

New York Vacation 2007

Why?

The time has come and gone for our annual September vacation. Last year we went to California. This year we decided to go to upstate New York. Why? Because we had never been there. Why else? The Adirondack Mountains in New York were supposed to be very beautiful with lots of lakes and mountains with plenty of hiking and water to have fun. So, we decided to rent a cabin for the week in Indian Lake, NY. We couldn’t get the whole week, so we look at the map and picked a big city that we could visit near the airport: Boston. Again, we’ve never been to Boston, so why not? Oh, and the “we” I speak of is Sarah, Jacob, me, Alan, and Julie.

SkyBus

We (Sarah) found some great airplane tickets through SkyBus. We found tickets from Columbus to Chickapee, MA for $20 round trip. That’s crazy. So, we gladly drove two hours to the airport and 3 ½ more from the airport to the cabin. This way we saved a huge amount of money. The only problem with SkyBus is that it does not have assigned seating. So, as long as you get in line early enough, you will have no problems. I would highly recommend SkyBus. It was a great deal.

Cabin

The cabin was fantastic. We (Sarah) couldn’t have picked a better place to stay. The cabin was on Lake Adirondack, a lake about 1 mile across. Very beautiful. The cabin came with one rowboat/motorboat, one canoe, and two kayaks. I spent a lot of time out on the lake in the kayaks. They were a blast. Fishing was done by Alan and Julie who actually caught some keeper sized. Jacob was a little nervous his first time out on the canoe. But, once he saw everybody else out on the water, he loved it. We cruised around the entire lake before he fell asleep in Sarah’s arms.

Indian Lake, NY

This was a very small town. That was our only complaint about the cabin. We basically had to cook all our dinners because there weren’t any restaurant open in town. There was one that looked promising, but they only opened Thursday through Sunday. I blame most of this on the time of the year. We were there at the end of September, so we were outside of the peak tourist season.

Lake George

Once proclaimed by Thomas Jefferson the most beautiful body of water he had ever seen, this was a nice, larger town. We still had problems finding places to eat. In the end, it worked out, because we had some fantastic New York style pizza at Capri’s Pizza. The drive up Prospect Mountain was fun and had some good views.

Lake Placid

The home of the 1932 and 1980 winter Olympics. A much more touristy town. It had lots of restaurants and shops. This was a fun place to hang out. They also have a great drive up a mountain that we didn’t get to do. Too foggy with a visibility of zero.

Hiking

Be prepared. The hiking here is in the mountains. So, as my book told me, a “short, easy, rewarding climb” resulted in a one mile trail up a mountain with a 1000 foot assent. Not easy. We really enjoyed the Castle Rock climb near Long Lake. I highly recommend this trail. Jacob was a natural hiker. Hitchhiker, that is. He rode in a kid carrying backpack and loved every minute of it. Every single time he got into the backpack, he saw a dog. So, now when he gets into the backpack, he says “ro ro” (his word for dog).

Boston

Don’t drive here. The traffic is awful and the other drivers are crazy. Seriously. I recommend parking at least two miles away from downtown and walking. Boston was fun and it had a nice tourist trail running through the city with a lot of historic buildings scattered about. We saw Paul Revere’s house, the North Tower Church, the Bunker Hill Monument, and the North End District (an old Italian area). There was a farmer’s market and an alternative energy fair going on downtown. Both of these were fun to walk through.

The Union Oyster House

This is the oldest restaurant in the United States. I think it dates back to around 1800. We decided to try out the restaurant on our first night in Boston. So, we drove downtown (don’t do this) and parked in a garage that was cheap if we ate at the restaurant and parked for less than three hours. So, we browsed around for an hour in the city, then went to the restaurant at about 5pm. The hostess said that we would have to wait a little while for a table, but we could go into the bar area and order some appetizers. We got some nachos and everybody ordered some sodas. Oh, sodas are pretty expensive in the bar and they do not have refills. Just FYI. After about an hour of waiting, we finally got our table. So, we maneuvered upstairs to one of the many floor of the restaurant. It was a claustrophobic’s nightmare. We got a table and started waiting for our table. To make a long story somewhat shorter, we waited an hour for our food. It was very good, though. When we got back to the parking garage, we were 20 minutes over the allowed 3 hours. So, we had to pay $28 to park. Oh, well. Live and learn.

Overall

We loved the trip. It was a blast. The lake was beautiful, the cabin was fantastic, the trees were gold and red, the hiking was tough but rewarding, Boston was fun and historical. I would highly recommend anyone visiting the Adirondack region, especially in late September. Just amazing.

Movie Review: Happenstance

Summary: French movie with the girl from Amelie.

Rating: 5.0 out of 10

Review: It was a cute movie. Nothing as good as Amelie. The story was kind of a jumble of different characters and how every action that someone makes can have a great impact on someone else. Skip it. Go watch Amelie, instead.

What kind of nerd are you?

Here are my results:





Sarah's Results:

Current Podcasts

I have a really long drive to work. So, podcasts have become an integral part of my drive. They make the time just fly by. I have forgotten my Ipod a couple of times and the drive seems to last forever. Most of the podcasts I listen to are related to my hobbies, so it's no surprise that the board gaming podcasts are my favorite.

Here is a list of the podcasts that I am currently listening to (in order of my favorites):
1. The Dice Tower (audio) - Fantastic board gaming podcast with lots of interviews, funny skits, and lots of game reviews.
2. The Spiel (audio) - Great board gaming podcast featuring two gaming nerds from Indianapolis. Focuses mostly on gaming reviews.
3. Diggnation (video) - Two guys reviewing the top stories of the week from their news site "Digg".
4. Board Games with Scott (video) - Great game reviewing podcast. (He hasn't released a video in a while, since he started On Board Games.)
5. The Show with Ze Frank (video) - Weird, quick, random podcast about random topics. This podcast is very good, but not for everyone. He put out a podcast everyday for an entire year.
6. Skeptics Guide to the Universe (audio) - Great podcast with about five scientists talking about news stories, science reports, and logical thinking. This is a must for any skeptic thinkers out there. (Unfortuanatly, one of the podcasters died not long ago, so I don't know when the show is coming back)
7. Mr. Deity (video) - Hilarious 5-10 minute clips about God. Very tongue-in-cheek about religion. There hasn't been a release in a while. I think they are trying to get on television.
8. Best of YouTube (video) - Video clip from the most popular clip of the day on YouTube.
9. They Might Be Giants (music) - Rare and live music from TMBG.
10. On Board Games (audio) - I just started this podcast, but it's not bad. Three very different guys talk about Board Games. On guy is outgoing, one is in the business of games, and one is a game designer. Interesting concept, but a little bit dry.
11. Tips From the Top Floor (audio and video) - Great, long-lasting podcast about digital photography. Mark, the host, is very good. The podcasts are not very long and have a lot of commercials, though.
12. Skepticality (audio) - One great skeptic show. The official podcast of Skeptic Magazine. This was one of the original skeptic shows. Unfortunately, the hosts are a little bit awkward.
13. GameTrailers Wii (video) - This is where I hear about all the new Wii games.
14. NPR: Science Friday (audio) - Clips from the Friday science show on NPR with Ira Flatow.

Perry DeAngelis

8/22/1963 – 8/19/2007


I was shocked to hear on my skeptics podcast today, that Perry DeAngelis, a skeptic of some note, died Sunday. He was a fantastic panel member of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe and one of the founders of the New England Skeptical Society. I am only a podcast listener, but I somehow felt as if I knew Perry. He provided some great fun and humor to the Skeptics Guide to the Universe. He will be greatly missed.

Book Review: Harry Potter 7

Summary: A long tale of witchcraft and wizardry finally comes to an enthusiastic end.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review: I will not ruin anything here. I don't like reviews that tell you anything about the plot. So, I will just say that I was happy with the book. It defiantly did NOT end like I thought it would. Although I was sure I knew some of the plot elements that would be in the book, most of them did not happen. Rowling took the book in a very good direction. Oh, and the (inevitable) final battle scene was fantastic!

I hate when long stories come to an end. I get very involved with the characters and can't stand when their events finally come to a close. But, I was happy where this one left off. Don't get me wrong, it is not a ultra-happy ending. Some people who you like will probably die. But, Rowling did a great job wrapping up every loose end that I could think of. You will learn the backgrounds to a lot of characters and it makes the reader understand things much better. I am very happy with the series as a while. Props to Rowling. Nice job.

Movie Review: Mad Hot Ballroom

Summary: Documentary about 5th graders competing in ballroom dance.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10

Review: Fun movie about a few elementary schools in New York City who decide to start a competitive ballroom dance competition to help keep the students off the streets. What makes this movie good is the kids, of course. They love the competition and are always hilarious when they tell the audience the secrets to life and relationships.

Jacob's Favorite Song

This is hilarious. Whenever Sarah sing "All By Myself", Jacob runs over and starts running in place. We assume this is him dancing. He will not do this to any other song! We will have to try a recorded version and see if he responds.

This moment was brought to you by Backyardigans.
Only the greatest show in the world (at least according to Jacob).

Sarah can now juggle clubs

Yes. Sarah can now juggle clubs! I will have to work on Jacob next. I'm quickly on my way to forming my own juggling troupe [sinister laugh]!

Movie Review: 300

Summary: Very stylized version of the Spartan-Persian battle.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review: The cinematography of this movie was absolutely amazing. It had some of the greatest CG of any movie I've seen. This is also why the movie got a 7.5 instead of a much lower rating. The battles were really good. I really enjoyed watching the different combat tactics used (although, I have no idea how accurate they really are). The only bad part of the movie was the plot and script. I understand that it is based on a true story, but the total dialogue would probably fit onto one page. This, in itself, isn't bad (e.g. 2001). But, the movie didn't go into the background of anything. If they would have setup the battle and characters a little more, this would have been a near perfect movie. I still recommend everybody watching this movie. It is pretty gory, but in a stylized way. So, just expect that.

Pictures from Southport

Here are some pictures from our annual Southport (Oak Island) trip. Jacob loved the beach.

Southport 2007

Movie Review: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Summary: Gay transvestite punk rock singer sings and tells his/her story.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10

Review: Not my usual movie. In fact, the plot summary almost made us not watch it. But, it was sent to us from Netflix, so we had to give it a try. Actually, it was a pretty good movie! Hedwig and the Angry Inch is adapted from a stage musical, so there is a lot of singing. And the lead actor can sing really well. The music is really good and it makes the movie. I would recommend this to anyone who can handle the different plot (and that should be everyone).

Airport Fun

We land at the airport at about 6:30pm in Columbus. We get off the plane at head towards the shuttle to take us to the long term parking. I don't remember exactly where we parked, but I know the area of the parking lot. We got to the shuttle and discover that there are three different lots: green, blue, and red. I don't remember what lot color, but Sarah says she thinks we're in the red lot. So we get on the shuttle and start heading out. Jacob is pretty relaxed because he's dead tired. The red lot is huge and I know that we are in the furthest corner of the lot. So, the driver drops us off and we start walking towards our car. Can you guess what happens next? Yeah. Our car is not there. We look around and I can tell that we are too far away from the airport. So, I lug Jacob on my shoulders and head off towards the airport looking for our car. It doesn't take long for us to realize that we must be parked in the next lot. After a half mile walk, we see the same driver pulling back into the lot. We sheepishly get back on the shuttle and ask him to take us to the blue lot.

We start talking about how stupid we are when we notice that he is heading way too close to the airport and that we just passed our lot. We are parked in green. When we get to the blue lot, the driver gets out and goes into a building to take a break. So, we walk into the blue lot, find a shuttle and head back towards the airport. Once there, we get on the green shuttle and head out ....... again. An hour after we got on the first shuttle, we finally found our car and started out 2 hour drive home. I love airports.

Harry Potter Midnight Release Party

I preordered four of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows books for myself and Sarah's family. This allowed me to be able to pick them up at the midnight release party on the Friday, June 20th. They started giving out line tickets at 9am that morning. So, I had my mother-in-law stand in line for 1 1/2 hours to get me a line ticket for the line later that night. Standing in line to stand in line. She got me number 81. So, I arrived at the store at 11:40 pm. The whole parking lot for 8 stores was 2/3rds full! Crazy. There were nearly 1000 people in the store. I got in there and found out that my number 81 didn't mean anything. BUT, the orange band did mean I was in the first of about 5 groups. So, I waited around and got my book at about 12:30 pm. Not too bad. There were still hundreds of people waiting when I left the store. A little better than the last time. I had to wait nearly 2 hours for the last book. I can't wait to start reading.

Movie Review: Garden State

Summary: A slightly surreal movie about a guy revisiting his past to find himself.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Review: Not a bad movie. Zach Braff wrote, directed, and starred in this movie with Natalie Portman. The two stars were the best part of the movie. They did a pretty good job. The plot of the movie was okay. I did laugh a few times. The movie just didn't do anything for me. Feel free to give it a try. My wife liked it a lot.

Movie Review: Shaolin Soccer

Summary: Hilarious mix of "crouching tiger" style cinematography, shaolin kung-fu, and soccer.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review: If you're a soccer fan, this is a must. It follows a young shaolin kung-fu practitioner who discovers a unique use of his skill: soccer. The movie starts pretty slow and takes a patient audience to get to the good stuff. Once the soccer starts, the movie is great. The final match is the greatest game of soccer ever played. :-)

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (IMAX 3D version)

Summary: The fifth installment of the crazily popular Harry Potter series.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review: Fantastic movie. They did a great job with the book to movie translation. Small things were excluded of course and one or two things were changed for the movie, but overall, great job. I don't want to give anything away, so I won't go into the plot. But, you have to realize that this movie is still just setting up for the seventh and final book/movie. Nonetheless, this movie has a well established plot and finishes with the audience satisfied. The whole movie you feel the kids pains and are rooting for them. There are even scenes where you want to jump up and shout "Yes!". The 3D part of the movie was only in the last 20 minutes during the climax of the movie. It was really well done and was not too distracting from the action.

Oh, and my favorite character from this movie was Luna Lovegood. The actress was fantastic and played her perfectly.

Movie Review: The Lakehouse

Summary: Sappy chick flick with a weird time paradox thing.

Rating: 5 out of 10

Review: As sappy chick flicks go, this wasn't horrible. I think the main reason is you are constantly trying to figure out what time the current scene is taking place and trying to figure out the whole time warp thing. I don't think it quite made sense overall. But, it's so confusing it kind of keeps you interested.

Movie Review: Pan's Labyrinth

Summary: Take the movie Labyrinth and cross it with The Neverending Story and way too much Schindler's List.

Rating: 5 out of 10

Review: I heard a lot of good things about this movie. How is was different and a little weird. I do not recommend it. The movie consisted of two parts that were mixed together throughout the film. The first part was gorey and not needed. This is the Schindler's List part. Having never seen Schindler's List, I only mean that it was unneeded violence and kind of felt like a Quentin Tarentino movie. Lost of blood and gore for no reason. Not good. The other part of the movie was interesting and not bad. Lots of weird creatures and it was kind of interesting. The plot wasn't very good, but it was interesting. So, put the two styles together and you get a movie that just doesn't work for me.

Origins: International Board Gaming Convention

This is very long and rambling. So, if you just want to see some pictures, go here.

Origins Photos - July 2007

Origins is one of the nations largest gaming convention. It represents many aspects of gaming: board games, roleplaying games, miniature games, collectable card games, and even some traditional games. I found out about this convention about four months ago from one of my board gaming podcasts and I new I had to go and see what the talk was all about. Plus, many of the podcasters were going to be there.

6am to 12pm:
Justin and I left for Columbus at 6am. We got to Columbus by 7:30am with plenty of time to register and get gaming by 8am, when most of the games started. The Columbus Convention Center is a large place. And the whole thing was going to be used by gamers of some form or another. We apparently entered the convention hall on the wrong end, because we didn’t see any registration booths. But, we could definitely tell that we were in the right place. Gamers just have a look about them. I stopped someone and asked him where to register and he said the other end of the Center, about a mile away. So, we started our trek across the Convention Center passing hundreds of tables and rooms where thousands of peoples would get their gaming on. The registration was easy and quick. We were even given some swag. We got a bag with the Origins program book with all the events in it, a deck of Pirates the constructible collectible card game, some D&D metal cards, and a few other small things. I found a Dice Tower button and pinned it on my shirt and off we went. Justin and I set off for the Table Top Event Hall and see what was there. It consisted of a large room with hundreds of tables but most of them empty. In the back was a large Pokemon setup with tournemnet players signing up to play. We looked around and didn’t really know what to do. Justin and I thought that the vendors were just not there yet to set up for the main exhibit. We didn’t know that that exhibit was next door and didn’t open until 10am. At the registration booth you can also sign up to play one of the thousands of events that start one the hour every hour. This seemed the best way to start out the day.Justin and I decided to register for one game. We figured this way we would have a guaranteed spot for our first gaming experience. The generic tokens we had purchased during registration could also be used to get the player into a game. But, you had to find (location and time) a game you wanted to play anyway, so you might as well sign up officially. So, we wandered into the tabletop gaming hall and found our table for our first game of Caylus. This game was supposed to take two hours and forty-five minutes. It seems to fit the classic Euro-game style: collect resources and money so you could buy stuff so you can get more resources. Justin and I both like these types of games, so we thought it would be fun. After a minute or two, the second scheduled player showed up and we had enough to start playing. But, two other people immediately joined using generic tokens and we began a five player game. After about 40 minutes of muddling through the directions and other players trying to teach me and Justin, we started to actually play. The game took nearly 3 ½ hours of gameplay. It was a fun game and I think it would just continue to get better the more you played. I took fourth right in front of the guy who left the game early. Justin took third just ahead of me and all three of us got our butts kicked. The other two guys were pretty good. I give the game 8 out of 10.

12pm to 1pm:
After this lengthy and slightly exhausting game, we were starving. So, instead of wasting much time getting something to eat, Justin and I went to the food court in the convention hall and grabbed something quick. But, it turned out the food court was a lot more interesting than we had expected. This small area was a melting pot of all the different types of gamers that frequent the Origins convention. You had people from the war room talking about different strategies for their ancient Egyptian Giza battle scenario. In the corner was a mom and dad, wearing their Pokemon t-shirts, eating while their son (the obvious Pokemon expert) was busy sorting his boxes of cards for his next national tournament match. Behind us were the typical nerdy board gamer and his friend ripping into a newly purchased game so they could start punching out the hundreds of cardboard pieces. The large table was taken up with roleplayers excitedly (and loudly) talking about a new 100-sided die they found at the convention that would roll much quicker than the usual 100-sided die and how this would come in handy in their games later on that day. Then, you had the LARPers (live action roleplaying). These are the people that strut around in costume dressed as a character from one of their roleplaying scenarios. In their games, they act out different scenarios and pretend to be the characters. For the guy LARPers, the costume usually involves a lot of armor and foam weapons from some sort of era. But, for the girls, this seemed to be a way to dress up in either next to nothing or at least in a lot of leather. Oh, and of course, following these girls were the overweight, mid 30 guys slightly drooling and asking if they can take a picture of the hot girl LARPer. I will give credit to the girls, though. They always smiled and never said no to me (I mean them). I think the LARPers are the ex-drama geeks that need a way to express themselves and be the center of attention again. You could spend many hours in the food court watching people and be completely entertained.

1pm to 3pm:
After this rather surprising experience, we decided to hit the main exhibit hall were all the vendors and game manufactures resided. This was the meat of the convention. Games everywhere, millions of dice available to purchase, booth babes trying to get you to buy nude vampire art, foam sword fighting, this hall had it all. Justin was interested in finding a “Got Wood for Sheep” t-shirt, so we started walking up and down all the rows to see if we could find the Settler of Catan shirt. While there were a lot of shirts for sale, we were not able to find anything that game specific. We some games for sale (including Space Dealer, which I’ve been thinking about getting for a while), we didn’t want to have to carry them around for the rest of the day. So, we thought we would just browse for now a come back later in the day to purchase.

We found our way over the Rio Grande Games section and saw that they had a lot of the Spiel de Jares nominees set up and you could demo them. So, the only open table was for Jevuit Von Theben and I had heard of this game and wanted to try it. When we got to the table a guy came up to us and asked if we wanted to play. I assumed he was working there and was going to show us the game, but it turned out he just wanted to play too. That’s when recognized the voice and looked up to see Rick Thornquist, game news expert (I know him from the Dice Tower podcast). I said hi and that I listen to him all the time and we got someone to show us how to play the game. Theben is a fun light game. You are an archeologist trying to acquire knowledge of different dig site and then going on digs to gather the most points. The unique aspect of this game is that everything you do takes time. And time is important in this game. The person who is in last place on the time track always takes their turn. So, if you use up too much of your time on one task, the next player could take 3 or 4 turns in a row. After 3 years of play, the game is over and the person with the most points wins. The luck of the game comes in on the dig. Each site has a bag full of point chips where over half of them are blank. When you draw a point chip you get it, unless it is blank, then it goes back in the bag. So, you could spend a lot of your weeks drawing a large number of chips and get nothing while your opponent could spend just one week and get a five point chip. The players do know what chips are left in each bag, so they can go after the bag with the better odds. But, this doesn’t always help. Rick and Justin tied with more than twice the points than what I got! I give this game 6 out of 10. Rick was very nice and told us about a new game he was excited about called Duel in the Dark. In fact, he had just purchased it when I meet him. This is a high recommendation for a game. (He doesn’t have to buy many games.) He also mentioned that we should go up to the Board Room and play some games there. This was an area that the Columbus Gamers Group set up where you can go and just check out games and play them. This sounded good to us.

But, before we headed up to the Board Room, we wanted to check out the Miniatures Exhibit Hall with all the wargamers. Wow, these guys are devoted. In this huge room, many different tables had been set up with different scenarios for battling. We saw tables that were 15 feet long with different terrain sculpted into the board. There was desert, jungle, space, and even river boards. Each had tons of little painted miniature unit scattered throughout the map getting ready to battle the opposing forces on the other side of the map. The Helm’s Deep board was amazing. It looked really good. There were even maps for dogfights in the air for everything from WWI planes to modern jet fighters. One map had biplanes suspended 12 – 20 inches above the table by poles. These planes were obviously in the middle of a frenzied dogfight with 8 people sitting around the table contemplating their next moves. After the miniatures room, it was time for some more gaming.

3pm to 7pm:
The Board Room is where most of the gamers from the podcasts hang out. I tried to find Tom and Sam from the Dice Tower or Dave and Stephen from the Spiel or Scott from Board Games with Scott. No luck. Oh, well. They were probably out to dinner. So, Justin and I took a while to find a game that worked for two players that we thought we would like and could learn to player fairly easily. We saw Power Grid and decided that would be fun. (It was at this point that I realized that generic token people were second class citizens to people with the “Board Room” ribbon. You needed one of these two options to play games in the Board Room. When the guy running the room found out we only had generics, he made sure to tell us that they were only good for two hours and we had to have it back by then. He was not very nice and I think I’ll just get a ribbon next year. Maybe he was just hungry.) So, we decided on Power Grid. We took it into the hall and found an empty table and started to set it up. I read the rules and we even had a few people stop by to give us a rules summary and ask if we needed help. They were very nice. Soon, we were quite into the game and loving every minute of it. Power Grid is a game about balancing your expenses between power plants and the resources to run the plants and the number cities you are powering. The first step is to auction off a power plant. This property is used to power a certain number of cities. The second step is to buy enough of the resources to use the power plant. Then the last step is to purchase new cities. The player has to be careful because he can only use the cities that he has enough power plants for. After these steps, the player then gets more money based on the number of cities that he has. Then you repeat this until someone gets to a set number of cities. In our game we both tied on the number of cities. So, the tie breaker was the amount of cash left over. Throughout the game, we had been spending hundreds of dollars on cities and resources. The difference between Justin and I was $9. That’s it. I won. Great game overall. I give it a 9 out of 10. My only concern is that the game seems too balanced. I don’t know if Justin and I are that evenly matched or just new at the game or if it was because it was a two player game, but I just hope that the end isn’t always that close.

After Power Grid we went back to the food court and grabbed another quick meal. We didn’t want to waste any time on eating. We decided to go back to the Main Exhibit Hall To see if we wanted to purchase any games. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that the main hall closed at 6pm. What’s that about? I don’t understand why it would close so early. Oh, well. We did see a sign for an all day live auction of games in another smaller room, so we went over there. Here, an actual auctioneer would take a game from his stack of hundreds of used games and auction it off within 30 seconds. Apparently, people bring in their used, new, or rare games to be auctioned off and make some money. We didn’t see anything we need and it seemed a little bit too frantic for us. So, we didn’t buy any games from the convention. Time enough to play one more game, though.

7pm to 9pm:
So, we found an area in the convention that was for Mayfair Games. We were admiring the LARGE Settlers of Catan games and other Mayfair Games in the area. I saw that they had Shear Panic. This was an Origins nominated game of the year and it plays relatively quickly so we decided to try it. Justin needed to get back so we only had a little over an hour left. We talked to the Mayfair people and sat down to play a two player game. The moderator came over to explain the game and told us that she didn’t like explaining the two player game, so would we mind getting another player. Weird. But, we said we didn’t care if someone else joined. So, she found someone who was waiting to play another schedules game and asked him to join us. He said he only had 15 minutes before his next game. No problem. Fifteen minutes later, she was done explaining the rules and we were ready to play. Of course, the third player guy had to leave by then. So, the Mayfair moderator girl went on to explain the two player version to us, anyway. After about five minutes we were ready to play. That’s when another girl sat down and asked if she could play. The moderator said she was done and her shift was over. The girl could play if I wanted to teach her and the moderator left. Weird. So, having played zero times, I explained the rules to the new girl and we started. Shear Panic really isn’t hard. It’s a nice little abstract game with a cute theme over top of it. You have a board that shows about 7 different type of movement that you can do to the sheep. The sheep start out in a 3x3 grid and you take turns moving them in some way such as jumping them or turning the whole flock. Nonetheless, you take turns rearranging the sheep to get points for your sheep and keeping you opponents sheep separated as much as possible so they don’t get points. During the game the object of the game changes so the sheep need to be in different spots. Sometimes the sheep need to be in front, sometimes they need to be in back, and sometime they need to be side by side. It was a fun quick game. I give it 7 out of 10. Oh, and I totally kicked butt at that game.

We left the convention having spent 13 hours there and 9 hours of it playing games. All in all, not a bad day. I can see how people could easily spend all 5 days at the convention. There is just so much to do. Maybe next year. I’ll start working on Sarah now.

See my few pictures here.

Movie Review: Knocked Up

Summary: One night stand turns complicated.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review: The plot is fairly straightforward: a one night stand between two people who are not very compatible and definitely not ready for a baby. The plot is not what makes this movie good, though. It's all about the writing and acting. I found myself laughing throughout the entire movie. They captured how it is to date, be married, and have a baby (and not necessarily in that order). When you watch this movie, you completely relate to the characters, no matter where you are in life. Very good "date" movie that guy will like, too.

Movie Review: King Arthur

Summary: The strangest telling of the King Arthur legend ever.

Rating: 5 out of 10

Review: When you think of King Arthur, you think of noble knights doing good and defending the world against evil. Yeah, this is not that story. First, make the knight the complete opposite of chivalrous. In this movie they are murderous and vindictive. There is so much blood and body parts flying, I thought that I was watching a Quentin Taratino movie. Oh, and Kiera Knightley was king of freaky looking. I think she just dropped off my list. If you want King Arthur, go watch First Knight or better yet, Excalibur.

Movie Review: Friday Night Lights

Summary: True story about a high school football team and the pressures that can come from all around.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review: Take the movie Varsity Blues (teen-oriented football film) and subtract out the humor, sex, and emotional attachment to characters and add in more football. That's Friday Night Lights in a nutshell. Lots of football. They take a very brief stab at some character backgrounds, but the viewer doesn't really care what happens to them in the end. Not that great of a movie. On another note, see if you can spot Tim McGraw (yes, the coutry singer). He does a great job of acting. Seriously.

Movie Review: The Departed

Summary: Two guys from opposite sides of the law meet with lots of bloodshed, violence, and twists.

Rating: 6.0 out of 10

Review: Huge cast of actors. Jack Nicholson was great. But, overall all, it was all blood and violence and not a great ending. The first third of the movie was kind of slow, but it was the setup. So, I'm okay with that. The middle half was good. Lots of twists and you didn't know how it was going to wrap up. Well, I guess the writer didn't know either. Disappointing ending.

Movie Review: Ocean's Thirteen

Summary: More of the same. Good plot, excellent thievery, and lots of twists.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review: This is the third movie in the Ocean's movies. I don't want to give away anything, so I will not reveal any of the plot. Just take my word, if you liked the other movies, this will not disappoint. There is not much more I can say. Good Sinatra-era cinematography that has a sort of retro feel. Excellent cast of actors (including two great new additions, click here and here to see who). While this movie is not as hard to follow as the previous movies, it still has some good twists.

Movie Review: The Weatherman

Summary: A fairly depressing movie about a weatherman, his kids, and his divorce. Sounds like a good one to me (sarcasm implied).

Rating: 5 out of 10

Review: Not much to say about it. Weatherman starts to have a nervous breakdown and it affects his career, kids, and ex-wife. It's a comedy (not). Oh, and Nicholas Cage was in it. That doesn't help a movie. Oh well, feel free to skip this one. I've seen much worse, but it was not memorable.

Movie Review: Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny

Summary: The story of how the greatest band in the world got together and saved the world by rockin'.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Review: If you like Tenacious D (a band consisting of two people, Jack Black and Kyle Gass) you will probably like this movie. Otherwise, probably not. The movie is full of music by the "D". But, most of it I have heard before. And the movie is very juvenile. I mean, really juvenile. And I thought they could have done a better job with the ending. Not as climactic as it should have been. But, it's fun. And there is a lot of good music. The "D" rock.

Book Review: Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

Summary: A "true" telling about the vikings and the mist monsters.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review: A fake true telling about how the vikings lived and the battle against a group of savages called the mist monsters. The story was told through an outsider visiting the vikings. He gets wrapped up in their feud against a warmongering tribe in the mountains. This book was interesting and held my attention through most of it. Fun but nothing that eye-opening.

Movie Review: The Fantastic Four

Summary: Another comic book turned movie.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review: This was fun. Nothing very deep, at all. Four people get superhero powers and discover how to use them. What this movie is NOT about is the "Fantastic Four" team. It is about how the Fantastic Four got together. At least there is a sequel coming out where they get to do some Fantastic Four stuff. Plus the Silver Surfer will be in that one. Excellent.

Book Review: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

Summary: A very logical argument against the belief in God. OR How to debate those Jehovah's Witnesses when they come to your door?

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review: Have you ever been stopped by some total stranger and asked if you have accepted Jesus Christ into your heart? And, did you have no idea what to say? Well, if this has happened to you and you are an atheist or agnostic, this is the book for you. This book is basically a point by point (almost, I will get to that in a moment) debate against Christianity and the belief in God. Dawkins takes all the standard points made by theists and explains why they do not hold water. He also talks quite a bit about the bible and why it should not be a textbook for human morality (much less a history book). All in all, it is a fairly good book. He goes into so much detail that it can seem to drag on in some sections, but I enjoyed it for the most part.

My biggest problem was when Dawkins would mention a major debating point and then say, "Well, I've talked about this in my other book, so I won't talk about it here". He does this a couple times and it got annoying. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this book. It probably won't be read by too many theists and get them converted, but that's not really what it is for. It is for those atheists and non-theists that want some ammunition in the anti-Christian arsenal.

Josh's Next Car

Ok, I will need a new car here in about 2-3 years. I've been looking at the market and there is not much that I like. All the cars look the same. So, I'm compiling a list of "different" cars that I will have to keep my eye on. (Click the car names to see their websites)

The Smart Car
(under $12,000, only all gas car on the list, 45 mpg)












The Zap-X
($60,000+, 100% electric, Top Speed 150mph, 350 miles per charge, not out yet)










Tesla Roadster
($92,000, 100% electric, Top Speed 130+, 200 miles per charge, powerful)










Chevy Volt
(concept car, electric with gas backup)












Venturi Fetish
(Only 25 to be made in the world, Top Speed 100mph, all electric)














AC Propulsion Tzero
(concept only, not for sale)
















Eliica
(All Electric, Top Speed 230mph, $320,000)










The New Mini Cooper D
(72 mpg with an all gas engine!!)

Movie Review: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask

Summary: Woody Allen + a few 20 minute movie segments = Weirdness

Rating: 4.5 out of 10

Review: I've seen two Woody Allen movies before this one. I actually liked them quite a bit. I didn't think I would. But, this was different. The segments were not that funny. They were definitely not clever. And the last segment was just disturbing. All in all, not my cup of tea.

Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Summary: More Jack Sparrow. That's probably the only reason this movie was made. Jack ... and lots of sword fighting.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10

Review: Sword fighting. How many ways can we fit impossible sword fighting into a movie? Watch and find out.

I can handle walking dead people. I can handle a half octopus, half man bad-guy. I can also handle curses and magic. But, when you take two pirates and have them sword fight in completely impossible situations, you lose me. It takes the viewer right out of the moment. Would you like to watch a 20 minute sword fight where one of the pirates was standing on his head? That's almost how bad it was. (Hmm, I bet they put this in the third movie. You just wait and see.)

The plot felt like it was just thrown in at the last moment. The scenarios were contrived and barely fit together. The sword fighting was cheesy. BUT, it was a "fun" movie. So, I didn't give it that bad of marks. Oh, I do hate cliffhangers, though.

Movie Review: The Devil Wears Prada

Summary: Ugly duckling turns into a swan but realizes that she was better off as a swan. Or so one would think. It's actually just about a bitchy boss. A very bitchy boss.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review: If you are a woman and have heard of a lot of fashion designers , you may like this movie. They name drop so many times that I think they must have been paid by all the big name designers. This movie should have been about the girl being assimilated into the fashion world, but it is not. It's all about Meryl Streep being the bitchy boss. This gets pretty old after the first hour. All in all, it's just a movie about a girl getting yelled at, a lot. Oh, and a hell of a lot of fashion stuff.

Movie Review: The Illusionist

Summary: Half love story, half fanciful magic performances.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10

Review: It's hard not to compare this to The Prestige. This one was not as good. The magic was almost completely CG (computer graphics). There was very little "real" magic. This was disappointing compared to The Prestige, where almost all the tricked were plausible. So, if you can handle the completely faked "illusions" and the constant love struggle, you will probably enjoy The Illusionist. Just don't watch it after watching The Prestige.

Movie Review: The Godfather

Summary: Mobs, guns, and horse heads.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10

Review: Not a bad movie. I don't see the hype. For all the killing, it moved kind of slow. Very good music, though.

Movie Review: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Summary: Clint Eastwood, the west, and cowboys shooting the hats off of other cowboys.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Review: I know. How have I not seen this movie until now? Beats me. Anyway, Clint Eastwood is a bad ass. He really is. I think he said about 5 words in the whole 3 hour movie. He didn't need to. He could just look at you and you would give up. Classic movie. A must see.

Cooking Class at Jungle Jim's

For my birthday, Justin got the both of us a cooking class at Jungle Jim's. This was the Whole Grain Cooking class with Stephen Lee (the HerbMiester). Jungle Jim's has some great cooking classes. I would recommend them to anyone. This was Justin's first class and my fourth. We got there and sat down in our seats and noticed that the average age seemed to be slightly high. I think all the whole grains talk appealed to the older crowd and the health concience. Little did they know...

So, Stephen Lee is a great cooking teacher. He was funny and quirky. His claim to fame was that he developed the current KFC green bean recipe. That's kind of cool, n'est pas? Anyway, we started with the Forest Mushroom and Millet Soup. It was pretty good. Needed more salt. You know what millet is? Bird seed. Seriously. Our "salad" was Barley, Corn, and Brown Rice Salad. This had a simple olive oil and lemon juice dressing and was actually very good. I was surprised. Not my normal good eats, but I liked it.

The main course was Shrimp and Broccoli in a Cream Sauce over .... get ready for it .... you're not going to believe it .... .... waffles. Yes, over waffles. Buckwheat waffles. I know, weird. But, very good. On the side we had some rye cornbread that was excellent. The best thing of the night. Simple to make, just buttermilk, rye, cornmeal, eggs and shortening. Oh, yeah. Shortening. He used lots of shortening. I think a lot of the people in there thought it would be a "low fat" class. They were wrong. He used lots of the good stuff.

Finally, we made it to the best course. Dessert! We had Steamed Oatmeal Pudding with a Hard Cider Sauce. Very good. The sauce was more of a whipped cream and the pudding was more of a fruit cake, but they were tasty.

Overall, a very good class. Thanks Justin. I will have to go back. :-)

P.S. Oh, and I got Stephen Lee's signed cookbook "Go Withs". Excellent.

Jacob Update: What pacifier?

Jacob is 40 hours into his binky (pacifier) - free lifestyle. All is going well. The reason for the cold turkey method: he bit off the rubber piece on three of his pacifiers.

Wii Update!!

I've got my Wii!! Sarah found out that Circuit City had some at lunchtime on Tuesday in Dayton. So, I left work and rushed over there to get one. There were zero on the shelves and no sign that they had any. I walked up to a salesman and asked it they had any. He said yes. "I'll take one," I smirked. I then had to wait the rest of the work day to play. The agony.

No time to talk. I have to go beat up Sarah. (Wii Boxing)

Jacob Update: The Couch

Ok, he can now get up on the couch by himself. He also tries to climb over the back.

Great.

Movie Review: Thank You For Smoking

Summary: Satirical comedy follows the machinations of Big Tobacco's chief spokesman, Nick Naylor, who spins on behalf of cigarettes.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review: Good movie. Is it wrong when you relate to the "bad guy" of the movie? That guy could convince anybody to believe anything.

Anyone seen a wii?

Guess what Alan and Julie got me for my birthday? A Wii!!!!



Sort of....

They couldn't actually find one. So, I'm on the search. So far I've personally checked 6 stores today. I also called 7 more. No luck, yet.

Must. Have. Now.

Jacob Update: Can of Mushrooms + Big Toe + Gravity = Big Booboo

Needless to say, Jacob and a can of mushrooms had an encounter. The mushrooms won. At least they got in the first punch. A few tears later and we have a black toe.

Birthday at Mesh

So, for my birthday, Sarah and I went to a relatively new restaurant called Mesh. This was one of the fanciest restaurant that I have ever been to! I would call the interior modern-contemporary. On the back wall was a glass case surrounding a 15 foot wall of wines (I assume for temperature control). The food at Mesh was contemporary American with emphasis on presentation. The fancier the better. They go for lots of little plates of food. So, on with our meal!

When we first arrived, the chef brought us a small, bite-size appetizer. This changes day to day and was not bad. Small piece of crisp bread with goat cheese and a tomato/olive stuff on top. Not bad, but not my thing. (Sarah actually tried this!) For an appetizer, we got the potato poppers. Little egg shaped fried mashed potatoes with a hint of chili oil and salt. Sarah really liked these a lot. I got the tomato bisque soup. It was served to me in a bowl that didn't have soup in it. It had a few pine nuts, a small blob of red paste, and a small blob of green paste. That was all that was in the bowl. I was slightly confused for a second. Then, she brought out a small metal pitcher that had the soup in it and poured the broth into my bowl. Very fancy. Let me tell you, that was probably the best soup I have ever eaten. Oh, the red blob was tomato paste and the green blob was some kind of basil stuff.

On to the main course. Sarah got the redskin potato ravioli. She says, "it was really good". I got the scallops on top of some kind of potato stuff on top of tomato. The scallops were excellent. (I know. I didn't get the lamb. I was just in a scallop mood.) Here's a camera phone pic of the scallops:



For dessert, Sarah got the "cheesecake". It wasn't quite what we were expecting. It was a Bailey's chocolate cake with a layer of cheesecake in the center. This was topped with a very light buttercream frosting. Very yummy. I got the raspberry, chocolate terrine. This is apparently a very dense, chocolate, fudgy-like torte. The chocolate had a very good raspberry flavor with some sauce drizzled all over it. Not only that, but it also had sugar encrusted cashews with it. Excellent dessert. I was just too full to fully enjoy it.


Overall, this was a fantastic place. The kind of place where the waiters stand at attention on the wall waiting for someone to need something. Every time my silverware was dirty, they replaced it. They served the food on your left side and removed the plate from your right.

Definatly NOT kid friendly; but I can't wait to go back. The only problem is that it is kind of pricey. We spent $71 without drinks. So, i would recommend this as a special occasion place.

Jacob Update: Warcraft

Jacob, my future World of Warcraft buddy. What do you think, Blood Elf?

Movie Review: The Prestige (2006)

Summary: A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy. Set against the backdrop of turn-of-the-century London, the duo compete to perform the ultimate magic trick.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review: This was an excellent movie! The whole movie keeps you guessing about what's going on. One magician trying to outdo one another, going back and forth. Plus, the movie keeps throwing twists at the audience. You never know what to believe or how the tricks are being performed. The movie is presented as a magic trick. The audience sees something they can't understand. Not because they couldn't figure it out; they have all the evidence. They just don't want to believe. Great movie. See it.

Jacob Update: Sliding

Ok, so Jacob officially loves the slides at the park. He can now go down them on his own. Right before he slides down, he gets a smirk on his face. Sarah says he's getting ready for the tummy tickling ride.

On a side note, he also likes to put a bucket on his head and wants you to knock on it. Should I be worried?

A Day at the Races

For my birthday this year, I got something completely different. Sarah, Ma, Pa, Bridget, and Greg got me a day at the Mid-Ohio Raceway driving race cars! It's that cool? The raceway had many different packages, including Teen Driving and Racetrack Lapping Program. So, we decided on the Advanced Defensive Driving School. I was nervous that this would just be a classroom based program, but we took a chance. (To view a video on the school, go to the site Mid-Ohio Racing and Select the pull down "The School" and go to "Video Clips". Then, select the "School" video.)
So, on March 24th, I woke up at the crack of dawn (6am) and left for my 3 hour drive. Apparently, the track is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by Mennonites (buggies and all). Anyway, I got to the track and went into the classroom and waited. After a bit, the other 9 drivers showed up. Two were older than me, from Cincinnati. Two of them were ditsy girls who didn't even know how to drive a stick. I'm guessing that their dads paid for this course to make them better drivers. The rest of the drivers were wannabe race car drivers. The whole day, all they talked about was how cool their cars were and what kind of cars they thought were best and what cars they had driven and how fast they drove those cars. I think they all liked cars, just a little bit.
So, we met our instructors: Tommy Byrne (formula one racer), Adam Wright, and Dave Roush. They had all been or were currently race cars drivers. So, we introduced ourselves and talked about the cars we drove and any accidents that we had been involved with. The instructors were very easy to talk to and knew their stuff.
Then the classroom part started. It was quick and to the point. They didn't want to waste our time talking too much. More driving and less talk was the motto. Excellent. The one thing I did learn was tires. They are the most important feature on the car. Buy good tires.
Ok, we then went out and meet our cars: Acura TSX A-spec with some race mods and a roll cage and 5-point harness. Cool. Each person had their own car for the whole day. We drove out to the track and got setup for the slalom. They had setup a 12 cone slalom with a quick 90 degree turn at the end. We had to take off and get into second gear very quickly and then run the cones as fast as possible. Man, we were flying. We ran this for about 30 minutes. I think I did pretty well. I never knocked down a cone at least. Hmm, maybe I didn't go fast enough.
Then, we setup for our next task. Tommy jumped in my car and i got into the passenger seat, and he took off. I got up to 3rd gear at 60 mph in about 6 seconds going straight into a very tight turn. And, then, way too late for my tastes, he hit the brakes as hard as he could and turned into the curve to stop. It was then our turn. Let me tell you, it was very hard to go that fast and wait long enough to brake. We definitely tested the anti-locking brakes that day. It was a blast.
Our last task that morning was the skid car. The skid car was awesome! It was a Civic that had a structure around it that had four caster wheels sitting on the corners of the structure. Basically, it made the car feel like it was on ice. A drift car! Sliding around corners was so much fun! Some people were really bad and couldn't keep the car from doing 360s. It was fun to spin the car. Although, i don't think I could take a lot of the spinning too much. It gets you quite dizzy.
Lunchtime (boring, more driving please)
Then, they set up a quick tight course with many cones around the track. We just kept driving the course and getting faster and faster. This was the most fun we had on the track. Lots of tight turns and quick accelerations to about 50 mph.
More skid car.
Next, we did actually laps on the oval track. Got up to 70mph. This was a lot harder than it looked. We were a little scared because someone had slid off the track earlier and almost hit the wall. This would be bad. $5000 bad. (deductible)
And now we were at the end of the day. As a bonus, we got to drive one lap on the whole race track. Got up to 40mph. They made us take it easy :(
Day end. Oh well. I had a blast. It was one of the most fun things I've ever done.

P.S. Mom, Dad, Sarah, ... I want to be a race car driver. :)