I'd like to commemorate the nearly 3,000 people who died five years ago in the tragic terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. That misleadingly sunny morning is arguably the most memorable for my generation so far. I hope that the families of those who died in New York, metropolitan Washington, and Pennsylvania, where I also have family and friends, are able to take comfort in knowing that everyone in the U.S. remembers their loss.

Without engaging here in political debate, I do hope that we can remain vigilant against the threat of terror, international or home-grown, and that the root causes — poverty, militarism, and religious fundamentalism — are addressed globally. Liberty and justice for all should be our goals. Peace, -Gene

Friends, I hope you had a good Labor Day weekend. On Saturday, 26 August 2006, Janice's parents Marvin and Linda and one of nieces, Amanda, visited eastern Massachusetts from Upstate New York. That morning, we drove into Boston for a whale-watching cruise and even managed to find affordable parking.

We sat near the front of the upper deck on a blustery day. For an 8-year-old, Amanda was very patient during the two hours out into the Atlantic Ocean and didn't get seasick, unlike a few other passengers. Fortunately, we saw several whales, including minke whales, finbacks, and humpback whales. One even swam alongside our boat and rolled over! See my Yahoo photos for details.

We then went to the New England Aquarium, which I had visited during my company's annual off-site meeting this past spring. Janice and her family (all big animal lovers) enjoyed seeing the penguins, turtles, jellyfish, and numerous other types of fish there.

We had an early dinner at a local Friendly's in Needham, Mass., before Janice's folks returned home because they had to work the next day. Speaking of work, I finished one special project only to sign up for another. The copy desk's hours have been longer lately (8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on average, but both earlier and later as we get closer to end-of-workweek deadlines) due to persistent technical snafus.

I've also been busy during the past week filing hundreds of photographs from our various trips. Janice's and my DVD collection continues to grow. In addition, boxes of magazines and comic books are waiting for me, as well as binders of gaming notes, reduced somewhat in number after last October's basement floods. Concerns for ill family members continue, but we're unfortunately too far away to be of immediate assistance.

On the past few Sunday mornings, I've been back to playing the "City of Heroes" online multiplayer game with Dexter V.H./"Midnight Hand." It's still heavy on action, but at least "Gwydion" is getting the hang of fighting gang members and zombies. Speaking of role-playing, the D20 "Mutants & Masterminds" 2nd Ed.: "Drake's 7" superheroes recently fought extradimensional monsters in a cemetery and supervillians in their lair beneath a lighthouse!

The local group is shifting back to my long-running D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands" heroic fantasy campaign this month, and most members have expressed a preference for continuing our Tuesday night sessions and for starting their next Player Characters in a desert setting. I'm also looking forward to a change of pace, although the more rules-intensive "Dungeons & Dragons" Edition 3.5 system requires more effort on the part of the Game Master to prevent imbalance or more attention to combat than to character, story, or setting.

We're now in the midst of screening potential players, since Paul J. has gone back to school at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Thomas K.Y. is likely dropping to part-time participation, since a weekly game is too demanding of his schedule. I sympathize. Fellow SUNY-Binghamton alumnus Beruk A. has also had difficulty getting to my place, since he lives out in Framingham, Mass., and doesn't have a car.

After Corbin A.Y.'s successful cameo a few weeks ago, we've met Otis D., who previously played in Dan A. and James B.'s D&D3.5 group. Brian W. and I have also e-mailed with a few alumni of a D&D3.5 "Eberron" group in Waltham, Mass., that recently self-destructed because of personality conflicts and differing expectations. I'm wary of people with such baggage, but we need to find out who'll mesh best with the existing team.

Thus, I've posted recruitment notices online and plan to visit local gaming and comic book shops within the next few weeks. I've never had trouble finding people who shared my interests in science fiction, fantasy, or gaming in the past 20+ years; finding people who role-play well together has been a challenge, however.

Although Janice and I probably eat out more often than we should, I've also been spoiled lately with homemade brownies, lasagna, and beef stew. We also ate at a decent Mexican restaurant on Moody Street in Waltham yesterday, although many of the shops there were closed for the holiday. Janice and I found that like the Natick Mall near where I work, the Burlington Mall northwest of Boston is undergoing major renovations.

Among the books I picked up is the D.K. reference to the Conan novels. As a long-time fan of Robert E. Howard's barbarian, I've been happy with the recent comic book adaptation's faithfulness to his books. By Crom! We'll see whether any more movies get made…

Speaking of comics and adaptations, the Cartoon Network's latest "Fantastic Four" series was off to a decent start. While the angular French style of anime takes some getting used to and the dialogue could be better, I hope it will fill the void left by the cancellation of "Justice League Unlimited" (coming soon to DVD). "Teen Titans" will be replaced by "Legion of Superheroes" later this month, and the new television season is just getting started. Take it easy, -Gene

Friends, I hope that the end of summer is treating each of you well. On Saturday, 12 August 2006, Janice and I went for a short hike in the Blue Hills Reservation south of Boston. We then drove up to Central Square, Cambridge, for some shopping, including at the relocated Pandemonium Books & Games.

Our concerns about the health of family members continues amid mixed news. My father is still undergoing radiotherapy in Charlottesville, Virginia (a 5-hour daily commute), but he continues to suffer the fatigue and loss of appetite from his tumor. Our niece Laura was diagnosed with a viral infection after a seizure, but she appears to be on the mend. Another niece, Ava, has an appointment with an ear, nose, and throat specialist next month, but our families prefer privacy regarding these issues.

On a lighter note, Janice and I have also spent many of our weeknights lately catching up on DVDs. We've enjoyed the BBC's "Keen Eddie" (borrowed from co-worker April O'C.), A&E's adaptations of Rex Stout's "Nero Wolfe" mysteries, and James B.'s copy of "Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther." Pent-up demand also led me to order various books and miniatures online…

Corbin A.Y. and his wife Andria K.Y. flew up from Virginia on Friday, Aug. 19. Unfortunately, I didn't get out of work until close to 7:00 p.m. due to the usual technical snafus, and I raced home to meet them. Janice, Corb, Andria, and I then went out to Fuji, a nice Japanese steakhouse in Needham Heights, Massachusetts, followed by dessert at a new gelaterie (fancy ice cream shop) on the town square.

We had a pleasant summer evening hanging out, talking about life in metropolitan Washington compared with that in New York or Boston, health concerns, and Corb's and my suite mates and misadventures 20 years ago in college in Upstate New York.

On Saturday, Janice and I rode in Corbin's rental sport-utility vehicle as he drove into Boston to drop Andria off at her meeting planners' conference. He then made a cameo appearance as "Prof. Andrus Schubertson/Polarion" in my D20 "Mutants & Masterminds" 2nd Ed.: "Drake's 7" superhero game (see my Yahoo/eGroups Web club for details). Corb was a bit rusty — he plays card games and fantasy baseball and football more than RPGs nowadays — but it went well.

Unfortunately, only some of my regular role-players could attend (Paul and Alex J. were celebrating their birthday), but I hope that Beruk A./"the Stranger," Thomas K.Y./"the Righteous Fist," and James B./"Sid the Kid" had a good time, as their costumed vigilantes met the magnetism-controlling Polarion, skirmished with Men In Black, and smashed zombies and a demon in the city morgue!

Since I ran twice within a week, I canceled this past Tuesday night's "Drake's Port" session. In the meantime, several of the guys are already looking ahead to the eventual return to my D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands" heroic fantasy campaign setting, but I want everyone to be on the same page conceptually first (we're considering desert adventures).

On Sunday morning, Janice did her usual volunteering shift at the animal shelter, and Corbin slept in after another late night. I didn't play the "City of Heroes" online game with Dexter V.H. in Brooklyn, since we went out for a tasty lunch at a local Indian restaurant. Corb then left to meet David F.R-B. for a visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. I ran some errands, started on the work I had brought home, and chatted with David I.S., who was similarly busy and unable to meet with Corb and Dave, who were relatively nearby.

We also enjoyed this past Friday's 200th episode of "Stargate SG1." The long-running military space opera was fun, if not as brilliant as "Farscape" or some "Star Trek," IMHO. However, the SciFi Channel announced this week that it's canceling the show, and I doubt that spin-off "Stargate: Atlantis" or the revisionist "Battlestar Galactica" can balance heroism, story arcs, and sympathetic characters as well.

This week, in addition to my regular copy editing workload at CW, I'm working on a special supplement that my company occasionally publishes, depending on sales of advertising pages. Fortunately, my immediate co-workers have been supportive. It's just as well that I canceled Tuesday's game.

This coming weekend, Janice's parents and our niece Amanda will be in the area to go on a whale-watching cruise and to visit the New England Aquarium. After that, it's only a week to Labor Day… -Gene

Friends, I hope all's well with you. On Sunday, 30 July 2006, I played the "City of Heroes" online game with Dexter V.H. in the morning. That afternoon, I met with college friend Ron J.K., who was again visiting his family in Brookline, Massachusetts. Due to the warm, humid weather, we just visited a few local bookstores and had dinner near where Janice and I live in Needham Heights, Mass., before Ron returned home to Westchester, New York.

The D20 "Mutants & Masterminds" 2nd Ed.: "Drake's 7" superhero game has continued on Tuesday nights. The most recent role-playing session found the current Player Characters infiltrating the submerged space vessel of the alien Collectors off the coast of Maine… I plan to order some HeroClix miniatures to represent "named" comic book heroes and various P.C.s, and speculation continues about the return to my long-running D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands" heroic fantasy campaign this autumn.

On Saturday, 5 August 2006, Janice joined me in visiting family and friends in Virginia. I wish our latest trip was under better circumstances. My father, who bounced back from a heart attack about 18 years ago and from the removal of a tumor and his right tricep last year, has suffered a recurrence of cancer. An aggressive sarcoma in his jaw has doubled in size in the past week or so, growing onto his palate and severely sapping his appetite and energy level.

Our Jet Blue flight was delayed for an hour because we had to change airplanes due to computer problems, but it was otherwise pleasant, thanks to the start-up airline's democratic lack of space-hogging first-class seats, its satellite DirecTV and XM Radio service, and healthy snacks.

Unfortunately, Janice's and my delayed arrival forced us to skip the Udvar-Hazy extension to the National Air and Space Museum near Dulles Airport, which we'll have to visit when we have more time. My younger brother Peter picked us up and drove us out to my parents' home in the Blue Ridge Mountains. After noticing the continued suburban sprawl west of Washington D.C., we stopped for lunch at Jerry's Subs & Pizza (one of our old favorites when we lived in the area) and picked up a few groceries on the way.

As one might expect, it was very difficult to see my father in his current condition, and we hope his doctors will be able to swiftly help him. Fortunately, he has several medical contacts, my mother's good cooking, and numerous friends for support. My parents have had to drive two hours each way every day from "Little" Washington to Charlottesville (where my father has been teaching medical history at the University of Virginia) for his radiation therapy. We're still waiting on a more definitive prognosis and plan of treatment, which will likely involve radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and radical surgery.

After a good meal of burgers, my mother's egg rolls, and several types of cheese, Peter returned to his wife Kelly and young daughter Ava in Alexandria for the night. We tried to help my mother in what small ways we could (my father has also hired a gardener). The next morning, they came back with roast chicken and sides, and Janice baked a birthday cake to celebrate both of my parents' birthdays (see Yahoo Photos). Our clan had a fun reunion and relatively relaxing afternoon.

We reluctantly returned to Alexandria, where Peter dropped Janice and me off to visit chez Rothandler. Steve M.R. & Aleece R. live only a few blocks from Peter & Kelly, and this was Janice's first time at their condo. We also got to meet Steve and Aleece's infant son Connor, who seemed healthy and happy (see Steve's Yahoo blog for more details).

Speaking of health, it has been a top topic among my friends lately, with the 40th birthdays of Janice, Carolyn M.P., David F.R-B., Steve A.L., Carlo R., John Z.G., and Corbin A.Y.; the recent deaths of parents of friends including those of Steve and Stuart C.G. (Janice and I learned of the latter from Dexter only a few days ago and have sent condolences); and the chronic illness of other family members, such as those of Ron, Steve M., and Dexter.

In addition, the necessary evil of placing very young children in day care has led to persistent ear infections in Ava (six in three months!) and pneumonia in Connor, leading their parents to consider changing day care providers. Janice and I accompanied Peter & Kelly as they dropped Ava off on Monday and Tuesday mornings, and while I'm sure she gets much attention from the people there, she is the smallest in her room of many toddlers.

Janice and I also later learned that our 11-year-old niece Laura, daughter of Janice's middle sister Michelle, had experienced a grand mal seizure early this past week. Fortunately, her sister Becky's dog noticed and awoke the rest of the family in the middle of the night. Janice's family is worried that it could be the onset of epilepsy, but we hope that the health insurers and parsimonious hospital in Upstate New York deliver the care needed for her to get well. Laura was expected to accompany the annual family visit to the shore in Wildwood, New Jersey, and a trip to Boston for a whale-watching cruise later this month. We've had enough bad news for a while…

Anyway, back to our trip. On Monday, Aug. 7, Janice, Peter, and I took the Metro into the capital. We walked across the Mall to the wondrous (and free) museums of the Smithsonian Institution. We saw the small 50th-anniversary Muppet exhibit at the National Museum of American History, which will be closed for most of 2007 for renovations.

After a decent lunch in the basement café, Peter went home because he has been fighting a cold, no doubt partly the result of fatigue from work (his federal contract ends this month) and stress from trying to take care of Ava and our father. Janice and I braved the heat and walked past the Old Post Office to the National Portrait Gallery, which was bigger than we remembered. We spent the afternoon in the impressive collection of history and art, saving the Spy Museum across the street for another time.

Janice and I then took the Metro (the district's subway train) to Dupont Circle, where we found Jim J.D'B. (sans spouse Cathey) at a used book store. We then met Corbin A.Y. and Carolyn M.P. at the Brickskellar, a pub from my grad school days at the George Washington University more than a decade ago.

Cathey was at a class, as was Corb's wife Andria, while Carolyn's husband Hans C.H. caught up with us in time for dinner and drinks. We were somewhat disappointed to find that the Brickskellar didn't have quite as many beers in stock as its menu said, but we had a good time anyway, discussing politics, health, and genre entertainment (Carolyn is also a fan of the BBC/A&E's "Hustle").

We also compared notes about various gaming groups, from the shift in my own D20"M&M"2e: "Drake's 7" and D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands" group and potential cameos, to turnover in Hans' D&D3.5 "Greyhawk" party, to Jim's participation in Tim M.B.'s "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer" and D&D3.5 RPGs.

Janice and I caught a ride with Corbin to Alexandria through a brief thunderstorm. As it turned out, Andria was right behind us, and she hopped out to say hello as we pulled up to Peter & Kelly's place. Corb & Andria will be visiting Boston in a few weeks.

Janice and I flew back to New England on Tuesday morning, making up for the delays in leaving by returning home a half-hour early! After we ran some errands and began catching up on e-mail, James B. stopped by, forgetting that my game wasn't meeting this week. In all, we've been on an emotional roller-coaster, but we'll have to see what the next few weeks bring…

After my fun trip to metropolitan New York (see previous post), I still had Tuesday, 11 July 2006, off from work. Thanks again to Steve A.L., David I.S., and all those who hung out with us! Any apprehensions about driving into Brooklyn were dispelled by Steve's clear directions, and I hope to get back to the city of my birth sometime soon.

Janice also used a day of leave, and we finally unloaded our storage unit, which contained items salvaged from our basement floods of last October. She had a doctor's appointment in the morning, and I had a routine dental appointment in the afternoon. Although the Boston-area gaming group didn't meet, Brian W. and James B. stopped by to help assemble metal shelves and sort through numerous Lego sets.

It has taken much of the past week to unpack the various boxes of files, stationery, and mementos. I still have lots of comic books and gaming notes to sort, but at least the basement of our current duplex has been mostly dry, and our stuff is now stored either above the floor or in plastic bins. I've also had to reshuffle DVDs and art books upstairs.

Speaking of DVDs, Janice and I just finished watching 12-part "Flash Gordon" serials from the 1930s. It was interesting to see how so many of the conventions of space opera were established by Buster Crabbe, et al., and how, despite the primitive special effects and simplistic dialogue, each episode ended with a truly suspenseful cliffhanger. I now have gumshoe comedy "Keen Eddie" and other borrowed videos to catch up on, as well as the BBC's fine caper series "Hustle."

In other genre entertainment, I've been watching "Blade: the Series" in the hope that the horror/action television program would get better. While the expanded mythology from the Marvel Comics and recent movie versions is welcome (for example, dust from slain Undead as an addictive drug in Detroit), the attempt to mimic Wesley Snipes' style, Eurotrash villains, and weak dialogue unfortunately make it yet one more mediocre vampire show, IMHO.

Much better was "Stephen King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes," an anthology series in the style of "Twilight Zone" or "Outer Limits." The New England author's short stories have been adapted into one-hour episodes, and the first two were pretty good. The first, a riff on "Small Soldiers," had no dialogue, featured William Hurt, and was directed by Brian Henson, son of late Muppet creator Jim Henson. The second was a tribute to H.P. Lovecraft. Although I don't have HBO, I've enjoyed the few episodes of "Rescue Me" that I've caught.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the summer return of the SciFi Channel's Friday night lineup, including the long-running "Stargate SG1" and spin-off "Stargate: Atlantis." As usual, "SG1" had the more compelling heroes and villains, while "Atlantis" had a more muddled plot. The revisionist "Battlestar Galactica" will return this autumn, and Janice and I have enjoyed the anime "Avatar: the Last Airbender."

On Saturday, July 15, Janice and I met Beruk A. and Thomas K.Y. at the AMC Framingham 16 to screen "Pirates of the Caribbean [2]: Dead Man's Chest." We were happy to escape the belated summer swelter in an air-conditioned theater. The swashbuckling sequel had fun action scenes, well-executed computer-generated monsters, and likeable returning characters from the first flick.

However, it ran long at 2.5 hours, focused on Johnny Depp's Capt. Jack Sparrow rather than let him steal the movie, and had a thin plot that didn't pay off until late in the film. As others have noted, it suffers from "middle child syndrome" as part of a trilogy.

While enjoyable popcorn entertainment, I would rate "Pirates 2" only about a 7 out of 10, leaving "Superman Returns" my favorite genre movie so far this summer (despite disappointing reviews and box office receipts). We went out to an Indian restaurant for a late lunch afterwards.

This week, I've been busy with work, partly due to vacations, and I'm considering taking on a freelancing assignment in addition to my usual workload. I've also been a bit of a gadfly, following up on recent editorial meetings regarding intra- and interdepartmental communications. Despite visits to our office by an ice cream truck twice per week, I'm glad that the latest heat wave seems to have broken.

On Tuesday, July 19, I hosted and ran the first D20 "Mutants & Masterminds" 2nd Ed.: "Drake's Port" superhero game in a few weeks. It went well: The current Player Character party, finally dubbed "Drake's Seven" (apologies to Kurasawa's "Seven Samurai," classic Western "The Magnificent Seven," and 1970s British Sci-Fi TV show "Blake's 7"), fought a sea monster. However, I now have to try to avoid allowing the six (!) costumed vigilantes from relying too heavily on more-powerful "named characters" from various comic book universes.

One role-player, James B., is trying to organize some one-shots for his nephew Joey, and some of members of our group have begun talking about the return to my D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands" heroic fantasy campaign this autumn. In the meantime, I hope that we'll be able to get back to a regular schedule and develop "Drake's Port" and its heroes further. I'm also due to get back to the "City of Heroes" online game with Dexter V.H.

In addition, Ron J.K. will be visiting his folks in Brookline, Mass., this coming weekend, and the "restaurant week" promotion will reach Boston (thanks to Brian D.H., Dave and I took advantage of a similar discount in Manhattan last week). After years of discussing the idea, Thomas K.Y. has suggested a monthly outing to try various local eateries: http://thomasyan.livejournal.com/209155.html
As one of the instigators, I like the idea, but we'll see how my schedule works out during the next few weeks.

If you thought that my trips to the U.S. Southwest, Belgium, and New York have exhausted my desire to travel, think again. I have yet to get my airplane tickets for my planned visit to family and friends in Virginia early next month. Damon F.P., Dexter, and Carolyn M.P. have all expressed interest in coming up here, and Corbin A.Y. is scheduled to be in Boston in the middle of August. Stay cool… -Gene