Holiday week walkabouts

The Justice League of America — Wonder Woman and the JLA

I hope that each of you has had a good Passover/Easter week. I’ve been busy with work, especially after the departure of former associate editor and fellow blogger Bianca S. (who had been my strong right hand on two sites) and subsequent departmental reorganization. We’ve also moved cubicles within TT’s offices in Newton, Massachusetts.

My brother, his wife, and their daughters visited recently. We went to the New England Aquarium and Boston Children’s Museum and enjoyed lunches at the crowded but diverse Faneuil Hall. We also got a snack of Belgian frites at Saus near Quincy Market and had sushi at the Fuji Japanese Steakhouse in Needham. We also cooked “barbecue” (sloppy Joes) and spaghetti and meatballs.

In addition, I was pleased to find that my nieces liked Wonder Woman and the Teen Titans‘ Starfire, and we played Wii Sports Resort and other games. The grownups enjoyed Uno and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. My role-playing games are on hiatus for the holiday week.

Janice and I will be visiting her family in Pennsylvania, but I don’t yet know when I’ll see my parents in Virginia again. In the meantime, I’m helping to plan a cookout coinciding with Damon F.P. and hopefully Dexter V.H.‘s visit in mid-May, a trip to Corbin A.Y. and friends in Manhattan in June, and a visit to David I.S. in Upstate New York and business trip to Chicago in July!

That’s not even counting local steampunk festivals, summer movies, or comic book conventions. Beyond all that is my 25th anniversary high school reunion in October. So much to do, so little time!

Anniversary and meal thoughts

Thanks, friends, for the anniversary wishes. Janice and I have been together for 21 years and married for 16, so we’ve joked that our marriage is old enough to legally drive, and our relationship is old enough to drink alcohol! Time flies when you’re having fun!

To celebrate, we went out to dinner at Fuji. The Japanese steakhouse has become a favorite of families in Needham, Massachusetts. I’m glad that children are getting a chance to try sushi or tender beef from the hibachi, but I’m surprised that the moderately pricey meals are so popular.

Earlier in the week, I had lunch with co-workers at Papa Razzi in Newton Lower Falls. The food was good, but service could have been better. Janice and I also took advantage of a warm spell to walk to Acropolis, a Greek restaurant that opened in town last week.

Although we already have Farm Grill in nearby Newton, I was pleased with Acropolis‘ friendly service; falafel, pita, and rice and spinach appetizers; and kebab entrees. Our desserts were also noteworthy — excellent flaky moussaka and creamy Greek-style yogurt with honey.

Our favorite food shows on television include Phantom Gourmet (on in the background as I type this), TV Diner, and Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. We’ve drifted away from Good Eats, Iron Chef, and Ultimate Recipe Showdown, and I haven’t had time for the amusing Bitchin’ Kitchen.

The Food Network has been focusing on competitions rather than cuisine in prime time, so I prefer some shows on the Cooking Channel or Travel Channel, such as Man vs. Food and Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. None of these can keep up with the BBC/PBS satire of Posh Nosh.

Since Janice’s new commute by train gets her home later than me, I’ve been making dinners for the first time in years, and those who know me may be surprised that we haven’t had pasta every night. While I’m not yet at the point of experimenting with “molecular gastronomy,” I do hope to prepare quick, healthy, and tasty meals. Janice’s French toast this morning showed who’s still the better cook!

Holiday update 2007

: Holiday 2007

As I prepare to move my blog from MySpace and Yahoo, here’ s a look back at one of my first posts (note that some of the links may be broken):

Friends, I hope that your holidays have been happy thus far. Instead of sending out the usual annual update letter, I hope that people are reading this blog.

The week before Christmas was busy, even though Janice and I had finished most of our gift shopping. Working on two issues simultaneously to get most of this week off kept CW‘s copy desk humming. On Saturday, 22 December 2007, we went to the local dump and post office, and I got my car inspected (which went more quickly and was cheaper than the previous week’s repairs).

We also had a Chinese-American buffet lunch at the Hunan New Taste, stopped by the Walpole Mall and the Big Y supermarket, and picked up my subscription at the New England Comics in Norwood, Massachusetts.

On Sunday, we stayed in because of the latest snowfall and caught up on television. What are your favorite holiday specials? Mine include classics such as A Charlie Brown Christmas, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and various versions of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Janice’s include A Garfield Christmas, Bill ‘n’ Opus: A Wish for Wings That Work, and Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas.

Of course, numerous Rankin-Bass cartoons and stop-motion specials have marked the holiday for generations, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and The Year Without a Santa Claus. More recently, we have A Muppet Family Christmas and Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Robbie the Reindeer, and Shrek the Halls.

I also had a quip-filled City of Heroes (CoH) virtual session with David I.S. and company, and Janice baked in preparation for seeing her folks. We plan to have a relatively quiet New Year’s Eve, since we’ll both be working that day.

We drove to Upstate New York on Monday, Dec. 24, first to Janice’s parents’ home. Like my parents, Marvin and Linda M. live atop a hill on five acres in the country. Unlike my family, they have numerous pets and a steep, icy driveway. Janice’s middle sister Shelly was already there with her husband Melvin W. and children Rebecca, Laura, and David.

I checked out photographs of friends on teenager Becky’s Clie handheld device, played chess with tween Laura, and played pool with 9-year-old David and his father. Shelly told us about her missionary work in inner-city Utica, and after a tasty lasagne dinner, we drove down to Janice’s youngest sister’s home, where we were staying.

We joined Melinda and Gary L. and their children Amanda and Joshua for Christmas Eve. I helped keep the kids occupied while the other adults finished wrapping a pile of presents. Amanda demonstrated her recent violin lessons, and I talked with 6-year-old Josh about various superheroes. Their cat Chocolate kept us company as we slept.

On Christmas morning, unwrapping continued, as the Manwillers and Wrights reconvened at the Lewis home, which has the most open space. Among other things, we got DVDs and an electric snow shovel. We had a ham luncheon, followed by Laura and 8-year-old Amanda playing with animal toys and David and Joshua playing with action figures and videogames. Becky is old enough to participate in most adult conversations.

Thanks to Gary’s PlayStation 2 and Xbox, I played an off-road racing videogame with Melvin, as well as Justice League Heroes with Josh. Although I don’t have the money or time to add console systems to my crowded tabletop (pen-and-paper, dice-and-pizza) role-playing, teleconferencing, and CoH PC gaming schedule, it was nice to try them out once in a while. Josh also demonstrated Spider-Man and Star Wars Lego II for us. (Lego Batman and Indiana Jones games are coming!)

I telephoned my family in Virginia, but I still missed being with my parents, brother Peter, sister-in-law Kelly, and nieces Ava and Lili. I hope to see them sometime in spring of 2008. But first, we’ll be at Dexter V.H.’s latest wedding in New York City in just over a week!

We returned to the Boston area on Wednesday afternoon after taking out the Lewises and Janice’s mother to lunch at Applebee’s. On Thursday, I caught up on e-mail and prepared for various games, including last night’s D&D3.5 “Vanished Lands: Holy Steel” teleconferencing team and tomorrow’s D&D3.5 “Vanished Lands: the Broken Chains” holiday makeup fantasy session. I’ve got to work today.

Of course, no year’s end blog post would be complete without a set of “best of” lists. IGN.com has a pretty good rundown of movies, genre television, and comics, but here’s my abbreviated version for 2007:

–Favorite movies: Children of Men, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Ratatouille

–Favorite SFTV shows: Avatar: the Last Airbender, Doctor Who, and Pushing Daisies (Fellow blogger Ken G. has also noted the untimely demise of the underrated time-travel drama Journeyman, but at least Pushing Daisies and Reaper got picked up.)

–Favorite comic books: Captain America, Detective Comics, and The Spirit

–Favorite musical singles (and videos): “Gone Gone Gone” (Robert Plant and Alison Kraus), “Rehab” (Amy Winehouse), “Umbrella” (Rihanna)

–Favorite RPG releases: D20 Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Ed.: Ultimate Power, A Practical Guide to Monsters (Dungeons & Dragons 3.5/4e), D20 Star Wars: Saga Edition

What were your faves? I look forward to blogging about such entertainment and more in the coming year, and may it bring good health and prosperity for all!

6 July 2010: Independence Day update

Friends, I hope you had a good holiday. After meeting Janice’s middle sister Shelly and her
family in Worcester, Massachusetts, the previous weekend, Janice’s parents and the family of her youngest sister Melinda arrived from Upstate New York on Saturday, 3 July 2010. Brother-in-law Gary had never visited our current duplex in Needham Heights, Mass.

Janice took Melinda, their parents Linda and Marvin, and our niece Amanda to the outlet mall in Wrentham, Mass. I drove Gary and nephew Joshua to the New England Comics and Newbury Comics in Norwood (I’ve got some reading to catch up on). We then walked around Legacy Place in Dedham. I also played a stripped-down version of Marvel HeroClix with Josh before reuniting for a good dinner of barbeque (sloppy
Joes).

On July 4, we all went to Kimball Farm northwest of Boston. It had a range of attractions for families, including food, a craft shop, animals, and bumper boats. There was something for everyone, including miniature and “pitch and putt” golf, as well as an arcade. The weather was warm, but it didn’t slow us down too
much. Janice and I left her folks after dinner at T.G.I.Friday’s and made it home in time for Needham’s fireworks.

Melinda had to leave early on Monday for Amanda’s swim class, but Janice’s parents joined us for a pancake breakfast, Needham’s annual parade, and lunch at Wild Willy’s Burgers. The food theme continued after they left, as Janice and I ate leftovers and watched Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations on the Travel Channel.

Unfortunately, we missed the Minuteman Model Yacht Club’s “Independence Day Open” regatta
on Rosemary Pond. My Pathfinder: Holy Steel/Dragonslayers” teleconferencing team and the face-to-face
role-playing gamers didn’t meet this past weekend, but we hope to get back on track after assorted scheduling disruptions. As I’ve recently posted, we’re gearing up for a new adventuring party in the virtual fantasy group and my “Vortex” space opera campaign.

6 April 2010: Warmer weekends

College chums David I.S. and Dexter V.H. didn’t visit the Boston area two weeks ago as each had hoped to at one point. In addition, I didn’t have time to run Shard for Sara F. & Josh C.’s group near Rhode Island, and although I didn’t get to the Pax East gaming convention or I-Con genre entertainment show, I’ve been busy enough lately.

At work, I’ve been juggling the usual editing with my first virtual trade show, testing a new invoicing and calendaring system, and looking ahead to conferences. I was lucky that the heavy rains didn’t affect my commute too much.

On Saturday, 26 March 2010, Janice and I drove to Hartford, Connecticut, for the Sugarloaf Craft Festival. As usual, we bought more food than art, and we had a hearty
lunch at a Cracker Barrel. I also browsed through the comic books and role-playing games at That’s Entertainment and Borders Books in Worcester, Massachusetts.

On Thursday, April 1, we went to the Route 128 station to pick up Amtrak tickets, but all the trains between Boston and New York had been canceled because of flooding in
Rhode Island. Interstate 95 was also obstructed. We got back in my car, turned around, and drove down to Virginia to see my family, fighting both Boston and
Washington, D.C.’s rush-hour traffic and getting rear-ended at a stoplight in New Jersey on the way. Still, we made decent time.

Janice and I stayed with my brother Peter, who recently acquired a Nintendo Wii. Although his wife Kelly had to work the next day, we enjoyed the sunny weather with nieces Ava and Lili. We browsed the shops and ate lunch at Madigan’s Waterfront in the historic town of Occoquan. On Saturday, we went to the Reston Zoo, which Janice and I had never been to before, even when we lived in the area a decade ago. We had lunch at Uno’s in Reston Town Center.

That night, Janice and I went to Corbin A.Y.’s cookout and informal reunion of alumni from the State University of New York at Binghamton. Corb and his wife Andria (whose birthday was Sunday) were gracious hosts as always, and their daughter Maia was calm and cute. I enjoyed catching up with Ben P.S., Steve A.L. and his son Nathaniel, John Z.G., Dana B., and Steve M.R., even though several spouses and children were unable to attend. We chatted about work, politics, relationships, genre entertainment, and of course, gaming.

My parents joined us for mass on Easter Sunday (Janice went to a nearby Lutheran church rather than the crowded Catholic service). Kelly’s mother Maureen arrived in
time for the Easter egg hunt and Peter’s grilled steaks. We played with our nieces and fought with Nerf N-Force Marauder swords before reluctantly heading home.

Unfortunately, traffic was even worse at the end of the holiday weekend than it had been driving south, taking us nearly eight hours to traverse a distance normally
covered in five. Most of the volume was in Maryland and southern New Jersey. We
stopped overnight at the recently remodeled Courtyard by Marriott in Tarrytown,
New York. The remainder of Janice’s and my trip went smoothly, and we stopped
for lunch at the Olive Garden in Natick, Mass., before dealing with errands at
home. I’m still catching up on work and e-mail, but I plan to blog more soon.