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Happiness?

I’ve been reading a book my wife gave me called “The Happiness Project“. In it, the author has two things that I’ve thought a lot about.

1) You can decide what you do, but not what makes you happy. I kind of wish I had thought of this a bit earlier in my life. A lot of people have this idea of what a happy person is like. Then, they try to make themselves that person, even if that image is something that will make the person miserable. You need to discover what makes you happy. Not other people.

2) The things that made you happy when you were 10 are probably the same or similar to the things that make you happy now.

10… So, that would be 1987. 5th grade. (I turned 18 1 week after graduation. For my purposes that means you add 5 to the grade to get my age for that school year).

That’s the year my teacher told my parents I would never amount to anything because I couldn’t spell. Ha! Spellcheck mother fucker! Yeah, no resentment harbored there… :P

Things that made me happy when I was 10:

  1. Reading. This is the year I discovered Piers Anthony and Xanth. I also was reading Anne McCaffrey. I was on a fantasy kick, though I had previously read Dune and a few other Sci-Fi books. I think this was also around the time I started reading ElfQuest.
  2. Related to reading was going to the library. I don’t ever remember a time in my life where a library wasn’t part of it. I was always happy exploring the books in a library. Taking my time to pick out my next adventure.
  3. Learning obscure facts. Even though I hated my teacher, he knew a lot about mushrooms. I spent a lot of time in the class learning about them. I’m still fascinated by them to this day.
  4. Games. I played a lot of Nintendo, once I got one. Games were… different back then. Super Mario Brothers. Metroid. Zelda. Dragon Warrior. Final Fantasy.
  5. Exploring. I use to go for a lot of walks by myself. It was something to do living out in the country. Always exciting to think of what was over the next hill.
  6. TV, Movies. I watched a lot of TV and movies back then. I’m trying to decide if this actually made me happy.
  7. Music. This is the year I started playing Trombone. I played for 7 1/2 years. I actually feel like I miss music a lot, even though I listen to it all the time.
  8. My dog. I spent a lot of time with Sadie when I was a kid. We think she was a 3/4 whippet, 1/4 greyhound  Great dog and was very patient with me.
  9. Skiing. This was the first year I got to take skiing lessons. The first day, I put on my skis and went straight to the top of the bunny hill on the rope tow. I then proceeded to fall every 2 feet all the way down the hill. I was about ready to give up, but lessons were starting near where I had last fallen. I’m so glad I stuck with it. There’s just something about coming around a corner on skis into a filed of fresh powder. Stopping and not being able to hear a sound. No people, no animals. Quite. “On down hill skis?” I can hear you saying. Yes, at the place I learned to ski, Sitzmark, there were some side slops that were more like gentle sloping hills. They were not very popular with most people, so they were very popular with me. I’m thinking I should take up cross-country skiing this year…

Some other things I remember making me happy when I was youngish, though not necessarily 10.

  1. RPG’s. I got my first D&D red boxed set when I was probably 11 or so. I remember opening it up in a Motel room in Wenatchee. My parents went out to dinner and I stayed in the room reading the two books in the box and playing over the single player adventure. Even though I didn’t get to actually play with a group until I was about 19, RPG’s gave me a lot of pleasure as a kid. They helped me exercise my imagination.
  2. Pretending. I use to spend a lot of time pretending I was a knight/dragon/half-elf/ranger/etc…
  3. When I was in Biology class and my favorite teacher used me by frustrating me, pissing me off, and making me say “I don’t KNOW why!” to a question about cellular metabolism.  Then, turning it around and telling the class that “Yes! Why! That is the most important question! That is what scientists ask, and it is what you should always ask!”
  4. Talking. My mother says I’m contrary. But really, I like a good debate.
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One Year Later, PAX 2012!

One year later and it’s PAX 2012! I didn’t take as many pictures this year, as I was concentrating on playing games and hanging out with friends more. But here are a few I shot.

I got to see a few panels in the Paramount Theater. The interior is AMAZING! I highly suggest finding a reason to go there. Shouldn’t be too hard. They have a variety of things going on there. Should be something you like.

Ceiling of Paramount Theater.

Ceiling of Paramount Theater.

Above the stage in the Paramount Theater.

Above the stage in the Paramount Theater.

The Paramount Theater stage.

The Paramount Theater stage from the second level.

An often visited place was the 5 Hour Energy booth. I doubt 5 Hour Energy got many new clients, but they did reinforce the experience for current clients :)

5 Hour Energy booth.

5 Hour Energy booth!

The new Assassins Creed game takes place during the American Revolutionary War. This shirt shows an interesting blend of the Assassins Creed logo and one of the many flags from the war.

Assassins Creed shirt.

Assassins Creed shirt.

While I wasn’t too fond of the game this represented, walking into the main expo hall and seeing a full size replica of a P-51 Mustang was quite the experience!

P-51 Mustang Replica.

P-51 Mustang Replica hanging from the ceiling.

It’s no secret I’m a fan of Wil Wheaton. He’s been working on a show called TableTop that shows people new games to play with the family. One of those is Smallworld, which I ended up buying at PAX. I mean, how can you not when you see this?

Wil Wheaton poster saying "Buy These Now!" under the game Smallworld.

Yes, Mr. Wheaton! I will!

Another view inside the Paramount, from the other side and the bottom level. Absolutely beautiful theater!

Bottom floor, left side of the Paramount Theater.

Bottom floor, left side of the Paramount Theater.

Needing to take a break and find food, I saw this interesting cross between Master Chief from Halo and Captain America. Many of the cos players at PAX are surprisingly artful people with amazing imaginations!

Who new Master Chief was funded by the US?

My favorite cos player of PAX was definitely this person. The Geth, from the Mass Effect series, are a race of robots that gained sentience and rebelled from their creators, the Quarians. The Geth forced the Quarians off their home world, and they now live on a flotilla of space ships. I’ve been surprised how often I see that theme in Sci-Fi!

I was surprised when I saw this and HAD to get a pic!

Here is the last pic inside the Paramount. This is during the “Koo and A” panel. On the right is Stephen Toulouse (aka, Stepto) interviewing Robert Khoo who pretty much runs Penny Arcade for the creators, Mike and Jerry. The interview was filled with great insights about running an online business about comics about games.

Stepto and Khoo in the Paramount.

Khoo, the man behind Mike and Jerry that makes Penny Arcade and PAX work.

And finally, while browsing games, I found this old copy of one of my favorite games, Tsuro. I was surprised to see a ship on the cover instead of the newer dragon. Also, I really like the blue theme a bit more than the newer red one.

Blue Tsuro cover with a blue theme.

What? Tsuro didn’t always have a red dragon on it?!?

And that’s all the pics I have to show. I took many more, but the lighting at PAX makes taking pictures with an iPhone difficult. They tend to blur really easily. But suffice it to say that PAX was again a blast and I can’t wait till next year!

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PAX Prime 2011!

The annual Seattle get together of all things geeky and nerdy in the gaming realm. For the last 4 years I’ve made my pilgrimage across the water of Lake Washington to the gaming mecca held in the heart of Seattle at the Washington State Convention Center. Here, drawn together by comics of two of our culture’s heroes, Jerry “Tycho” Holkins and Mike “Gabe” Krahulik, we make our way each year to tease, win, and lose to each other to restock our hit and magic points for the year. An MMIRL Game, there is nothing like it in the world. Which is probably why I found out today that in addition to PAX Prime and PAX East, a new third PAX in an undisclosed location has been announced.

But enough of that. I know there are people waiting for pics, so here’s the gallery. I’ll continue my PAX Prime experience below.

Friday

After breakfast and coffee, I walked to the bus stop on the other side of 520 and hopped on the bus. It was a nice quick bus ride downtown, but Friday night at 11, the 520 bridge was closing for the entire weekend. Fortunately I have a great wife who was patient and willing to drop me off or pick me up at the south Bellevue Park and Ride for other bus trips over the weekend.

I got to the convention center a bit earlier then I expected and headed for the Queue Room on the 4th floor. To my surprise, it was only half full. I ended up standing in the front of my line for about 90 minutes, talking to other geeks and watching the cosplay contest on the stage right in front of me. At 10 am, the gates opened and people started streaming into the Expo hall.

I originally had a schedule of panels I wanted to attend. It turns out I only made one panel all weekend. There so much to look at and do, I just didn’t have time to hit many panels.

After wandering around for a bit, I came across the Rocksmith booth. It’s like RockBand, except you plug a real guitar into the machine. It starts out easy with 2 strings and measures how good you ar doing. If you are doing good, it gets harder and adds strings. Seems like a great way to learn how to really play songs on a guitar. I complained to the guy showing me the game about it lacking bass and he said it’s expected 6 months after the launch of the game. If they come out with a bass version, I’m buying!

My first task on Friday is to wander around the Expo hall and get a mental map of the area. I then headed to bandland to see when Wil Wheaton would be making a signing appearance. I checked twitter and found that he would be in the area in about 15 minutes. I jumped in line about the 8th person and waited for him to arrive. I got a USB drive with almost all of his written and audio work as well as some silly videos he made. It was number 1 of 10.

Feeling a little overwhelmed I headed out for lunch. After getting back to PAX, I decided to head across the street to the table top and Halo Fest areas. While I’m not as steeped in Halo lore as some, the full size, working Warthog was something to behold! I then wandered down stairs and got sucked into a table top D&D board game called “The Legend of Drizzt”. While I had a good time, I didn’t think it was something I could convince Amy to play with me.

I walked around for a while, playing a few games, and came across Orcs Must Die! I’ve seen a preview online, but it didn’t do the game justice. This looks like a great game. You setup traps and heroes to stop a horde of orcs. Looks like it should have good replay value in different maps, traps, and horde size.

Saturday

Saturday morning I got to the queue line a bit later then Friday, but ended up only one line back from where I was Friday. I guess a lot of people were partying a little too hard Friday night :)

I decided to head for the OnLive booth first thing in the morning. They have a new type of console about the size of  a full wallet. All the processing of data and video for the game happens on a server that is streamed over the internet to the OnLive console. I’m glad I headed right over there. OnLive had tweeted the night before that they had limited free consoles to give out, so the line was twice as long as the day before when I got in it. A few minutes later and I couldn’t see the end from where I was standing.

An hour and a half later I got my free console. I didn’t mind the wait. I got to see a neat laser projector that connects to iPhones that one of my friends later bought. I also got to talk to a lot of nice people in line.

After getting my console, I headed over to the Skyrim booth. I never got to play Skyrim. The short line had a wait of 2 1/2 hours. Oh well. I’m not convinced I’ll like Skyrim anyway. I had issues with it’s predecessor Oblivion.

Later, I met with a friend and got sucked into a game of Smallworld Underground. It was fun, but I think the originall Smallworld might have been a better place to start. It’s a little bit simpler.

I then wandered around the Expo Hall and managed to snap some pics of dancing Zombies and other cosplayers. It was starting to get late and I was getting hungry and tired so I headed home for the evening. I was originally planning on staying downtown, but I love being able to go to PAX and sleep in my own bed.

Sunday

Sunday morning I got to PAX about an hour before the doors opened. I was way further up in the line. Too may PAX party hang overs :) I checked my schedule and saw that a friend’s panel called Testers vs The Game started at 10:30 upstairs. Just then, an OnLive person was handing out Sonic the Hedgehog lanyards. I grabbed one and jumped out of the main queue line and headed up the escalator. There was almost no line for the panel, so I sat down and waited for the doors to open. The panel seemed like a success, although I expected more people. I found out later that many of the panels where lightly attended. I’ll try to remember that for next year. I then gave the Sonic lanyard to my friend on the panel, as she is a huge Sonic fan.

I then headed downstairs to learn how to play “Lord of the Rings the Card Game”. It’s fairly complex to learn, but once you understand the rules it’s pretty fun. I think I can get Amy to play with me. It’s also possible to play alone, so even if she doesn’t, I can still play.

I continued to wonder around and play games. Space Marine looks awesome, but the game was alpha. It didn’t have keyboard and mouse support yet or reversible X axis. It made the game almost impossible for me to play. Once the game gets these added, I think I’ll love it.

I’m also thinking about getting into Rift a bit more. I like the idea of rifts opening up in the game and everyone joining together to defeat them. I’m also interested in Lord of the Rings online. It’s free to play and I like the idea of following a quest in the world.

As the day wore on and my feet continued to ache, I decided to call it quits and head home. One more walk around the Expo hall and off I went. My hp full. My mana recharged. Now for a year of adventure and tales to bring back to share at PAX next year.

- Beowuff

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Bridal Veil Falls and Lake Serene

On August 7th, my wife and I decided to celebrate our 5 year anniversary (on the 6th) with a hike to a new spot we hadn’t ever been to before.

Amy saw a place called Lake Serene in a magazine and a book that had some amazing pictures. Knowing that the trail head wasn’t far from home, we decided to give it a shot.

Looking up the trail on the US Forest Service, I noticed that the trail is rated as “difficult”. But it’s only 4+ miles to both the falls and the lake… It can’t be that bad, right?

The first bridge.

This is Amy just past the first bridge. We were only about 1/2 a mile into the hike with a slow but steady up hill climb. We got a fairly early start and hadn’t seen too many people yet. Amy was VERY nervous crossing this bridge. The gaps between the slats are several inches across. :)

The bottom of Bridal Veil Falls.

After about 1 1/2 miles up the trail, there is a right hand fork that goes another 1/2 mile to Bridal Veil Falls. There are LOTS of stairs to climb and lots of rocks. A few times, Amy turned to me and said “Are we still on the trail?” Sometimes, it looks like your climbing up a river bed of rocks instead of a trail.

Once we made it to the top, though, it was worth every step.

Amy enjoying the water spray from the falls.

We enjoyed the spray of the falls. The day was overcast, but the climb kept us warm.

Gee... You think falling is a good idea?

This sign amused me. But I suppose earlier in the year, the falls are probably much more dangerous with more water.

Top of the falls lost in fog.

The top of the falls looked like they were several hundred feet above us. But it was hard to tell, as the top was lost in fog.

A quick snack break before heading up to Lake Serene.

After a quick snack, we went back down the 1/2 mile to the fork and started up towards Lake Serene.

A bridge through the trees.

The trail wound around for a bit, then crossed a neat bridge far down stream of the falls.

The only real bridge on the hike.

Most stream crossings were rock steps. This was the only real bridge found.

Falls from the bridge.

Over the top of these small falls is the bottom of Bridal Veil Falls. But you can’t really see them from this bridge.

Amy being goofy.

Another quick stop on the way. This was a wide, rocky spot that had some tiny waterfalls in the background. Good for a quick rest.

Amy contemplating more stairs...

Then we hit more stairs. There were LOTS of stairs on this climb. Still not very many people, though. It seemed as we got closer to the lake, we started to see more people.

Oh look... More stairs...

A rocky stream crossing.

This was a typical stream crossing. You can see some people heading around a bend on the trail. Streams were nice because you could stop on a rock in the middle and feel a nice cold breeze to cool you off :)

Almost to the top. Almost lost in fog.

Did I mention the fog? The fog was both good and bad. Nice, because we didn’t have to worry about over heating in the sun. Bad because it obstructed what I imagine are some gorgeous views!

A nice view for lunch.

We finally made it to the lake and sat on a nice bench, made from a log, for lunch. More people were starting to show up too. I was surprised how many people we saw on such a foggy day.

Is there a shore over there?

At first, we couldn’t see the other side of the lake, and we were wondering how big it actually was. We decided to walk around a bit and see what else was up here.

The coolest bridge across the stream that becomes Bridal Veil Falls.

This was my favorite bridge. It is a giant log over a huge log jam in the stream that flows out of the lake and becomes Bridal Veil Falls.

Log jam!

Fog lifting a little. Is that the other side?

As we were walking along the lake, the fog started to lift a little. You could start to make out the other side.

At Lunch Rock. Last stop before heading down.

About 1/4 of the way around the lake is this giant rock sitting partly in the water. It is called “Lunch Rock” because a lot of people come here to eat. Some people were even going to the bottom of the rock and getting in the water! By this time, Amy and I were starting to cool down enough that jumping in the water seemed like a bad idea. Maybe on a hotter day.

Also, the pictures don’t do the rock justice. It was quite steep at the top and bottom of the rock, with a nice flat spot in the middle to sit down on.

After sitting around and giving our feet a rest, it was back down the hill. The total round trip was about 8.2 miles. A nice, long hike on a perfect, not too hot day. It did rain on us on the way down, but we were so hot and sore, that the rain felt amazingly good :)

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Insanity x2

You know that crazy thing I did last weekend? The one I posted last Saturday? About riding my bicycle 44 miles?

I did it again today.

But I didn’t do it alone. For some reason I let my wife talk me into doing it again. The ride time was 3:20. That’s only 5 minutes longer then last time. But I didn’t have any leg cramping.

Now? NAP TIME!

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Proof of Insanity

Today I found out I’m insane. I just rode my bike 44.15 miles. Not to raise money for a good cause. Not because I was being paid. Not even because my wife made me. I did it because it was fun. Yep, fun. Proof of my insanity.

Ready to Ride! 0 Miles.

Just getting ready to ride. It was still over cast and cool when I left. Boy did that not last long!

I made sure to bring 2 water bottles with electrolyte mix, a couple of Gu gels, 2 extra packets of electrolyte mix, and a couple of snack bars. Lots of calories for a long ride!

First stop at Bothell Landing. 7.5 Miles.

My first stop was Bothell Landing. It’s a nice, easy, flat ride. I wasn’t sure if I’d be up to a long ride today. I figured if I didn’t feel good, I could always turn around here. I felt great to be outside on the bike and only stopped long enough to snap a pic and take a drink of water.

Quick stop at Log Boom Park. 11.5 Miles.

Log Boom Park is the first place I ever fell over on my bike. It takes some getting use to riding with one’s feet clipped into the peddles. I think the worst thing about that day was that there were children all over the toys in the back ground. Today was much better. I was actually surprised how few people were at the park. Only a few other riders stopping for the bathroom or to catch their breaths. Another quick stop for me, as I was still feeling pretty good.

Matthews Beach. Amy's favorite spot to take a bike break. 16.6 Miles.

One of my Wife’s favorite rides is to Matthew’s Beach and back. It’s a decent distance, but still pretty flat the whole way. It has a nice sandy beach, bathrooms, and water. A really good stop on a long ride. I spent a bit of time here people and boat watching. It was time to eat a Gu gel and refill a water bottle. This was the farthest along the Burk-Gilman trail I had ridden until today.

Husky Stadium. 22.22 Miles.

I followed the Burke-Gilman trail until I got to Husky Stadium. Here I had to turn off the trail and start riding in some Streets. Most of them were residential, so it wasn’t really that bad. There are so many bicycles in Seattle, that people are pretty good about watching out for us.

The last time I saw Husky stadium from here, I drove the car :)

Montlake Bridge over the Lake Washington to Lake Union canal. 22.53 Miles.

A short distance past Husky Stadium, I went over a bridge that spanned this canal. It connects Lake Washington and Lake Union. I was surprised there were no boats in the canal. It’s usually very busy!

My chiropractor's office. ~26 Miles.

Once I got a little farther down the road, I decided to stop by my chiropractor’s office to say hi. I didn’t have an appointment, but I thought I’d see if he was busy for a chat. I ended up staying there for almost an hour. :) It was a nice break. I got to eat some Gu chew snacks and refill my water bottle again.

I90 floating bridge. 28.2 Miles.

Back on the road, I had a nice ride along Lake Washington Blvd. There were a few hills, but I was feeling pretty good still. When I got to the I90 bridge, there is a nice path the loops up a hill and around to the I90 path. However, there was a gate across it… But there were stairs next to it. So I got to climb several flights of stairs carrying my bike. Good thing it’s light! I took a few minuets at the top of the stairs, then took the picture above. Time to ride across the lake! About half way across the bridge, my legs started to get sore. I think the climb up the stairs sapped a lot of my strength. The climb up the other side of the bridge was pretty grueling.

Park on Mercer Island. 30.38 Miles.

Fortunately, a short distance on Mercer Island is a nice park with a bathroom and water. I stopped for a while to let my quads recover a bit and ate a LaraBar. After refilling my water bottle again, I headed on to the next bridge and Bellevue.

Riding in Bellevue was not as bad as I thought it would be. 112th is 2 lanes with very light traffic. Then I crossed I405 on Main St, which was almost deserted of cars and had several other bikers on it. Up 116th to cross 8th NE at a light, and I was at Sportzal.

Sportzal in Bellevue. 36.39 Miles.

I needed another break, so I thought I’d stop at Sportzal where my trainer works. I was hoping to surprise her with my ride, but no one was there. Catch you next time, Cathy!

I did some more stretching, as my legs were getting sore again, then I headed on up the road to the 520 bike trail. There’s a pretty good hill you have to climb to get to the beginning of the trail. Fortunately there’s a nice wide bike lane. Unfortunately, I had my first real leg cramp about half way up the hill. I stopped and stretched. Drank some water and ate my last Gu gel. A few bikers went by, then I started climbing up the hill again. I barely made it to the top and had a decent slightly down hill ride until the hill going up to 148th. I ended up walking the last half of that hill, as my legs were pretty much done at this point. Fortunately, it wasn’t very long.

From 148th, there’s enough down hills that you can coast on the up hills and make it pretty well. The ride from 51st down into Redmond is a fast decent. I hit my top speed of 34mph. I’ve gone faster there, but I couldn’t even peddle downhill. A nice flat ride after that and I was at a nice park in Redmond.

Park in Redmond. 42.89 Miles.

At this point, I was only about 1 mile from home. I drank the last of my water and spent some time in the sun. Then I headed home to say hi to my cat.

A great way to spend the day while my Wife is away. Even if it is proof that I’m crazy! :P

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Training trip to Victoria!

On May 22nd, some of Amy’s TNT group decided to head up to Victoria to do a pre ride of the bicycle part of the triathlon. I tagged along as support.

It was interesting taking the car on the ferry to Canada. I’ve been on the Washington State Ferries many times. But the Blackball Ferry was surprisingly different. The ferry opened on the back, like a regular WA ferry, but instead of the front being the same, it had a door on the side to let people load/unload in Victoria. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any good pics of the boat…

Amy and I beat the rest of her team on the ferry. They decided to walk on with their bikes to save money. Smart move, as the price for cars is pretty steep!

Here’s Amy waiting on the boat for the rest of the team.

Amy on the Blackball Ferry, waiting to start the crossing.

Once we got across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, we quickly made it through customs and stopped across the street so Amy could meet up with her team. They headed up to Elk Lake, where the triathlon will start. I took one of Amy’s team members to a really neat bicycle shop called Fort Street Cycle. Highly recommended!

We then headed up Highway 17 about 10 miles to Elk Lake Park.

Elk Lake Park sign.

Elk lake is very interesting in that the South part of the lake has a different name… Beaver Lake. Not sure why it has two names, as it is the same actual lake.

Amy’s team headed out on the bicycle loop while I waited behind. If they needed anything from the support call, they would call me. I decided to take a couple of pictures of the park.

This is where the swim part of the triathlon will take place.

The most likely transition area.

It was really hot out. I was thinking of putting a sleeping bag under a tree and taking a nap. But first, I was starting to get a little hungry. I walked a couple of blocks to a mini mart and found this!

Dark Chocolate KitKat!?!

I haven’t had a KitKat in years and didn’t know they made dark chocolate ones. Do they even sell these in the US? Now here’s a reason to move north!

As I was sitting and eating my snack in the car, I noticed a really dark cloud over head. All the sudden, the sky opened up and POURED rain. I kinda felt sorry for the bicyclists. But I think it was good experience for them.

After they got back to the car, we all headed back to downtown Victoria. Amy fell asleep in the car while we waited for the rest of her team to catch up. I decided to take a little walk around the harbor.

Right next to the harbor is the Parliament Building. It was “Canada Day”, so there were tons of school children on the lawn in front of the building. I’m hoping to take a tour when we go back up for the real triathlon.

A statue of Queen Victoria and the Parliament Building.

Another shot of the Parliament Building.

For some reason, I really like the look of green copper roofing :D

Across the street is “The Empress”. It’s a really fancy hotel. Every day they serve tea at Tea Time. The architecture looks almost exactly as I remember the Banff Springs Hotel.

A distant shot of "The Empress" Hotel.

After my walk, all of us went to a nice restaurant across the street from the ferry. They had a deck that was empty due to wind, so the entire team was allowed to leave their bikes on it. It was nice because no one had to worry about locking anything up.

On the way home, a lot of people ended up sleeping on the boat. This was helped by the rocking of the giant waives in the strait. I love walking around a walking boat, though, so I couldn’t really sleep.

Amy caught a picture of me watching the clouds out the window.

Watching the clouds on the way home.