Friends, I hope you've had a good week. David I.S.'s and my visit to friends in metropolitan New York went well. On Friday, 7 July 2006, Dave took a bus from Upstate New York and then the subway to the new condo of Steve A.L. and family in Brooklyn.

Since I had worked a 12-hour day and didn't want to fight traffic in the Northeast Corridor, I drove down from the Boston area on Saturday. I found chez Levine without difficulty. After dropping off my bags at Steve's guest quarters, we waited an hour or two for Carlo R. wrap up at a speculative science event and for Dexter V.H. to come from his parents' home, also deeper in the borough, to join us.

Carlo was two years ahead of me at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, New York, and we met through mutual friends and connected over our shared interests in science fiction and philosophy. I met Dave 20 years ago this summer (August 1986) during our orientation weekend before freshman year of college at the State University of New York at Binghamton, and we've been close friends ever since.

Although he's two years older than me (and recently celebrated his 40th birthday), I met Steve shortly thereafter at a leftist political club on campus. Dexter was two years behind me at SUNY-B., and although we lost contact for several years, our shared interest in role-playing games is but one part of our friendship.

After some wandering around some historical neighborhoods, we ate lunch at an upscale pub because our first choice, a local pizzeria, had become popular as the neighborhood gentrified. Dave called us after the first of the dates that he had arranged online, and we met him at the Brooklyn Museum. We then walked around the impressive collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts, international art, and a graffiti exhibit.

For dinner, we went to a nice Japanese restaurant. Dex and Carlo left (the latter getting lost in the subways on the way to his home in Westchester). Dave, Steve, and I picked up some frozen yogurt and ice cream and continued the day's conversations about relationships, politics, and religion. As a historian, Steve is a great source of information about New York. Naturally, we went to sleep late that night.

On Sunday, we followed our plan to spend the day in Manhattan. The city crews met at midmorning at Stuart C.G.'s place on the Upper East Side. In addition to the guys who had met the previous day, we were joined by Erik B.L. & Wei T.L. and their adorable 4-year-old daughter Emma M.L., as well as Brian D.H. Stuart's sons Sammy and Benji were rambunctious, playing hide and seek with Brian, while Emma flirted with Sammy.

Stuart was a friend of Dexter's and mine during the latter half of my undergraduate years, while Brian is another Binghamtonian and a former housemate from my year as project coordinator of the New York Public Interest Research Group chapter at Queens College of the City University of New York.

Although Erik attended SUNY-B. one year behind me, I didn't really know him until the early 1990s, when we (and fellow alumnus and genre fan Steve M.R.) met in Washington D.C., where Erik and I studied international relations at the George Washington University. He went on to law school, while I moved into publishing, journalism, and copy editing.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to meet Stuart's wife Zoe, who was off studying for an accounting class. Coincidentally, after spending time in Japan, Stuart married a Chinese woman, as did Erik. Stuart now works for Bloomberg, and Erik practices law on Long Island. As the lone woman present, Wei got the thankless job of running after the children.

We went to a Hamburger Heaven for brunch, and Dave left early for his second planned date, whom he met at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Former Boston-area gamer Ted A.H., who works in the arms and armor exhibit, was unfortunately unavailable. After a good meal and discussion, Steve suggested that we walk to a nearby playground in Central Park where we could sit in the shade while Sammy, Ben, and Emma burned off some energy outside.

In hindsight or for the next time I visit, we'll have to think of a better way to accommodate both the adult acquaintances as well as their children in terms of activities both might enjoy. I would have liked to go into the Met, but it would have been expensive and difficult to keep everyone together. Erik, Wei, and Emma returned to Queens by midafternoon, and Stuart, Sammy, and Ben reluctantly also left us. Brian was feeling tired after a long bicycle ride the previous day, but he had made lunch reservations for Monday.

Steve left to pick up his wife Michele and son Nathaniel at La Guardia Airport, where they were returning after a visit to family in Florida. Thus, Carlo and I took a bus to meet Dave at Rockefeller Center. Dave was pleased that both dates went relatively well, and the three of us walked farther downtown. We stopped in Virgin Megastores and two comic book shops before Carlo headed back north.

Dave and I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan, enjoying the fine summer weather, diverse crowd of pedestrians, and varied architecture. We were soon back at Steve's building, where we met Michele and Nathaniel. Dave immediately connected with Nathaniel over their shared interest in videogames, specifically the portable Nintendo DS. Michele wisely recommended that we stay in for dinner, and we ordered excellent Indian food.

After another late-evening analysis, Dave and I left the Levines' condo on Monday morning. We took the subway into lower Manhattan, where we visited the Compleat Strategist, a gaming store that had been closed when we stopped by the Empire State Building the day before. We then met Brian for lunch at CraftBar, taking advantage of "restaurant week" promotions to eat at a fancier restaurant than we would otherwise go to. We also stopped by two more comic shops.

Dave accompanied me to Brooklyn to pick up his growing luggage before heading back to the Port Authority and home. I drove up to White Plains and was surprised by the amount of construction downtown. I remember before the Galleria and other shopping malls were built and was impressed to see the economic growth of the city since my high school years.

However, after visiting Comic Book Heaven, an independent seller in the middle of the old shopping district, I learned of the downside of such development. The proprietor told me that she might have to close her store or move because of increasing rents and that the arrival of large chain stores had destroyed the neighborhood's feel, turning it into one more drive-through destination and widening the gap between wealthy suburbanites and poorer minority (soon only in name) urbanites.

Back at an old haunt, I met Carlo, Steve M., and Ron J.K. for dinner at the Galleria's food court. Unfortunately, Damon F.P. and his family were still at the New Jersey shore and thus unable to join us. Carlo, Steve, and I reminisced about Stepinac, and I told Ron how I had spent the weekend hanging out with other college chums. We also compared notes on family concerns, dating, car troubles, and apartment living. Serious topics aside, I had a pleasant time with the so-called Westchester crew and then drove the rest of the way to Massachusetts. I'll save my update for the rest of last week for my next blog entry…

Friends, here is Part 2 of my travelogue of Janice's and my recent trip to Belgium. By now, you've probably seen my report on last month's journey to the U.S. Southwest and Part 1 of our European vacation, in which we met part of my father's side of the family to celebrate the baptism of my niece Ava.

Late in the evening of Monday, 29 May 2006, Peter drove Janice and me and Franco & Alice F. in the rental van around Brugge (Bruges) in an attempt to photograph the city's spires as they were lit up. While we were unable to get to the center of town because of one-way streets, we did get to see the city's gates and some nice windmills.

On Tuesday, May 30, Ava's godparents Frank & Alice returned to New York. Peter and my mother stayed with Ava, who was fighting an ear infection; Peter's wife Kelly, who had a throat infection; and Kelly's mother Maureen, who had twisted her ankle on the cobblestone streets of Brugge (Bruges). My father got together with his brother, Guido (who had baptized Ava), but they didn't go very far, partly due to late spring rains.

However, Janice and I followed our original plan and took a train for a day trip to the nearby city of Ghent. After deciphering the schedules at the train station (while mass transit is generally better in Europe than in the U.S., we had some difficulty finding and reading signage), we found ourselves again crossing the scenic flat landscape of Flanders. Small towns and farms, unchanged for centuries, exist alongside modern highways and power plants.

We took a trolley from the train station into the old center of Ghent. Like Brugge, it was a center for commerce and art where guilds vied for power with local and foreign aristocrats. Unlike Brugge, which has extremely well-preserved medieval architecture, Ghent has more of a mix of modern buildings and Romanesque and Renaissance churches. It felt more like a living city than a museum piece, but each place we visited had its own charms (see the photos I've posted at Yahoo).

Janice and I walked through the marketplaces of the Graslei and Korenlei, admired the antique facades of the Patershol, and looked at an old cannon and a statue of Jan Van Eyck, whose triptych "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" is one of the premier paintings at St. Bavo's Cathedral. Beguinages, once refuges for laywomen and now convents and schools, were near still more book and chocolate shops.

St. Nicholas Church had more art, and we took an elevator to the top of the Belfort, or belfry, just as Franco & Alice had done (on foot) in Brugge. Not only did we get to see inside the impressive architecture and get a panoramic view from the center of Ghent, but we also got to descend some very narrow winding stairs. Later, we enjoyed the restored Het Gravenstein, or the Castle of the Counts, where we also visited the torture museum.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. We had dinner with my family one more time in Belgium before taking the train the next morning from Brugge to Brussels, they flying back to Boston on Wednesday, May 31. The past few weeks have been very busy at work as new copy editor Carla D. began at CW, and my latest article (I've occasionally written profiles) was published. Janice and I had to cancel plans to meet with Cliff & Eliza Y. due to continued rain.

My D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands: Seekers of Lore" heroic fantasy campaign came to a bittersweet end for now with the usual seasonal turnover and scheduling challenges. Byron V.O. and family moved to St. Louis to follow a job, and Paul J. returned from college. My D20 "Mutants & Masterminds" 2nd Ed.: "Drake's Port" superheroic scenarios got off to a slow start, partly because the Boston-area role-players have few copies of the core rulebook for character creation.

As for recent genre entertainment, thanks to in-flight movies, I've caught up a bit. Queen Latifah was amusing in the culinary-themed romantic comedy "Last Holiday," and the revisionist fairy tale "Hoodwinked" wasn't as annoying as I had feared it would be. A recent glut of child-oriented computer animation has turned me back toward hand-drawn animation and Asian anime.

Emma Thompson's "Nanny MacPhee" was a slapstick latter-day "Mary Poppins" with a dash of Tim Burton's style and was also reasonably entertaining. Muscular action flick "Transporter 2" had a weak plot and worse dialogue, but the "Bourne Supremacy" was a well-cast thriller, if different from the Robert Ludlum novels I read back in high school.

We also rewatched the spectacular but long remake of "King Kong" and adaptation of C.S. Lewis' fantasy "The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," both of which are still in the shadow of the written and film versions of "The Lord of the Rings."

I borrowed Beruk A.'s DVD of "Free Enterprise," a satire of the "Star Trek" fan subculture that was still respectful of its inspiration and audience, not unlike "Comic Book: the Movie" or "Galaxy Quest." Unfortunately, the direct-to-video "Brainiac Attacks" was not a worthy successor to the animated "Superman" series of the 1990s, let alone to the rest of the Bruce Timm/Paul Dini version of the D.C. Universe (including "Batman," "Justice League Unlimited," and to a lesser extent, "Static Shock" and "Teen Titans").

Speaking of Superman, while I'm looking forward to "Superman Returns" in movie theaters later this summer, I enjoyed Kevin Burns and Bryan Singer's documentary on the comic book superhero's history on A&E. I expect it to be an extra on the inevitable DVD. Among other recent acquisitions, I've been enjoying Buster Crabbe in the 1930s "Flash Gordon" serials.

I had a happy fanboy moment when "Batman Begins'" Christian Bale briefly shared a stage with the cast of "Superman Returns," including Christopher Reeve look-alike Brandon Routh, at the MTV Movie Awards! I didn't know most of the nominees for this year's Tony Awards, however. I hope to squeeze in "Superman Returns" and "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" amid the next few weeks' events.

On Saturday, June 10, Janice and I went to the bookstores of Harvard Square, Cambridge, although my favorite local role-playing shop, Pandemonium Books and Games, has moved to Central Square. We also ate at the Border Café, our favorite Tex-Mex restaurant, and hung out among the Asian food stands at the Dragon Boat Festival on the Charles River.

This past Saturday, June 17, Janice and I drove out to Worcester, Massachusetts. We visited the park and science center of the Ecotarium, the festival and weapons demonstrations at the Higgins Armory Museum, and comic book/game shop "That's Entertainment." I still have to set up our air conditioner, as temperatures have finally risen to the 80s F.

This coming weekend, I'll be hosting and running a D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands" one-shot for James B.'s 12-year-old nephew Joey and friends on Saturday, 24 June 2006, and on Sunday, I'll be meeting Ron J.K., who'll be up from Westchester visiting his brother and family in Brookline, Mass.

Janice will be visiting her immediate family in Upstate New York around Independence Day, but I have to work on Monday, July 3. On the other hand, I'll be taking a four-day weekend after that to visit friends in metropolitan New York and another one in August to visit family and friends in Virginia. In the meantime, stay cool! -Gene

Friends, I hope that the past few weeks have treated you well. Janice and I had a good time during our recent trip to Europe for the baptism of my niece Ava. Here’s the first part of my vacation report.

On Thursday, 25 May 2006, Janice and I flew from Boston’s Logan Airport to Dulles International Airport in Virginia, where we had a five-hour layover at the United Air Lines hub. We then sat on the runway for an additional two hours due to a mechanical problem.

Fortunately, the remainder of our travel to Belgium was uneventful. I read a stack of newspapers and a few issues of Wizard magazine. Janice read several mystery novels, including The Italian Secretary. Caleb Carr’s Sherlock Holmes pastiche was a good imitation of the “Hound of the Baskervilles,” but not as tightly plotted as The Alienist.

Janice and I also watched a few in-flight movies (more on that later) and tried to sleep. We then took a train from the airport, changed lines in Brussels, and were met in Brugge (Bruges in French and English) by my father and the gracious proprietor of the Hotel Egmond.

Rather than succumb to jetlag, we dropped off our bags at the Aramis suites and met with the rest of the U.S. contingent: my parents; my younger brother Peter, his wife Kelly, and their daughter Ava; Kelly’s mother Maureen; and Franco & Alice F., Ava’s godparents-to-be. My immediate family and Maureen came from Virginia, and Frank & Alice came from New York, near where Peter and I grew up.

We ate lunch and began walking around the cobblestone streets of Brugge, which has kept much of its medieval architecture and ambiance. Horse-drawn carriages took small groups of tourists (mainly British, Francophone Walloons, and a few Germans and Americans) past bistros, quaint houses, and leafy courtyards. We were a little tired that Friday night, but the later sunsets there (10:00 p.m., compared with 8:00 p.m. in New England) threw us off more than the time difference.

On Saturday, May 27, we piled into a rented van and automobile, and Peter and my father drove south to Kortrijk, the town where my father’s brother is a priest. We went to the church of Father Damian (a missionary who attended to lepers in Molokai, Hawaii), where we met the Belgian branch of my family.

In addition to Father Guido, or Uncle Do, my father’s sister Miet was there, as well as her adult children: Tom, Jill, and Lien. Tom just opened a hotel on the coast and is married to Pascale, with one daughter, Marie. Jill works in Brussels, where she lives with son Elias and boyfriend Roberto. Lien has taken over the Didakites business from her late father and is married to Louis, with two kids, Jerome and Justine. My cousins’ children range in age from 4 to 13.

My father is the eldest of his siblings. Tom and Jill are about Janice’s age, and Lien is younger than us but has the oldest children. Ava recently passed her first birthday, and my parents had traveled to the Philippines to celebrate the 80th birthday of one of my mother’s sisters.

Unfortunately, the French branch of my family couldn’t attend, since my father’s other brother, Jan, a baker in Bordeaux, was in Corsica for the recent wedding of his daughter (my cousin) Katje. Janice hopes to see her own family in Upstate New York or eastern Pennsylvania later this summer.

Ava’s baptism went well. Uncle Do did the blessings, aided by godfather Franco. I gave one of the scripture readings, which was fortunately in English. The entire family was joyful at the happy occasion for a reunion, and the younger cousins entertained us all.

We were given a brief tour of the church, rectory, and community center, which continues the good works of Father Damian. Due to pilgrimages, my uncle spends much of his time in Italy and was even planning a trip to Brazil. A cocktail hour and lunch at an upscale restaurant followed, and we changed into more casual clothes and dodged the rain to reconvene in a local pub later that afternoon.

Speaking of rain, while not as devastating as the past month’s worth of deluge in New England, the weather in Belgium was cool (50s F) and damp, like the climes of Great Britain or the U.S. Pacific Northwest. While a bit depressing at times, the showers didn’t stop us from seeing anything. I channel-surfed through local music television only once.

Since many museums and shops were closed or had shortened hours on Sunday, we took a canal cruise when the sun briefly shone that morning (see my Yahoo photo site). We also walked past antique vendors, an old fish market, and numerous churches, several of which held art treasures from the past 800 years.

For example, near the Markt (market square) and Burg (including the Belfort, or clock tower, and city hall), the Basilica of the Holy Blood contains a vial of blood-crusted cloth said to be that of Christ himself. As an amateur scholar of Holy Grail legends and coinciding with the premiere of the movie adaptation (to mixed reviews) of the popular and controversial “Da Vinci Code” book, this was timely.

Janice and I had missed a procession the preceding Thursday featuring people in medieval garb celebrating the arrival of the vial from the Holy Land (either Jerusalem or Constantinople) during the Crusades. My father, Maureen, and Frank & Alice did go to that pageant, which also featured the reenactment of scenes from scripture and history.

However, we did get to see the relic because of the holy day, and we also admired the Romanesque, Renaissance, and other layers of art in the church itself. We also got to see in the Church of Our Lady a statue by Michelangelo of the Madonna and Child that was the only work of his to leave Italy during his lifetime. Janice and I walked through the Groeningemuseum, mainly through the galleries of early Flemish art by Jan Van Eyck, Hans Memling, and Hieronymous Bosch.

On Monday, May 31, we had to cancel our plans due to Ava’s worsening ear infection, Kelly’s throat infection, and Maureen’s strained ankle, not to mention continued rain. Originally, my parents, Janice, and I were going to drive through the Flemish countryside, visiting dairy farms, a cheese factory, and World War I battlefields, while Peter would take the rental van with Kelly, Ava, Maureen, and Franco & Alice into Brussels for sightseeing and shopping.

At the reception following Ava’s baptism, my cousin Jill had invited us to dinner at her place in Brussels. While Kelly, Ava, and Maureen would stay back in Brugge, we would go into the capital of the European Union for museums and another family gathering. My aunt Miet also invited us to come out to her place in the port of Oostende.

However, Janice and Alice found that many museums in Brussels are closed on Mondays, and since Peter wanted to stay with his ailing wife, daughter, and mother-in-law, taking the train for souvenir shopping was looking less attractive.

My mother also wanted to stay close to the patients. After driving around late one night in search of an after-hours pharmacy, Peter & Kelly ended up calling doctors to visit (with help from the hotel staff; if only such house calls were still available in the U.S.) three times, mainly for Ava.

While we hated to disappoint Jill, Roberto, and young Elias, the U.S. party ultimately decided to stay in Brugge. The so-called Continental breakfast offered by the Hotel Egmond was an understatement, featuring pate, prosciutto, and waffles. Swans and other waterfowl floated gracefully through the Minnewater park near our hotel, some convents, and manor houses.

As it turned out, the weather improved briefly, and we did most of our souvenir shopping (mainly chocolates for co-workers) in town. I have never seen so many chocolate stores in such a small area, each featuring unique culinary delights. We also took cold cuts back to our suites to save money on some meals.

In addition, we went to an interesting chocolate museum, which featured its history from the Mayans to European aristocrats to small-scale manufacturing. Of course, there were free samples… Janice and I later popped into some bookstores. We also enjoyed the other local specialties: beer, seafood, cheeses, and frites (misnamed “French fries” by U.S. soldiers in World War I). The food and service were consistently excellent!

While Janice, Frank, and Alice went to the diamond museum, I went to an impressive comic book store. In Europe and Japan, graphical storytelling doesn’t have the children-only stigma it does in the U.S.; on the contrary, many titles are for adults only in a number of genres. Everyone decided that the lace museum was too far to walk, but Janice and I caught a demonstration. Uncle Do and Tante Miet joined us for another pleasant dinner.

In my next installment, I plan to discuss Janice’s and my side trip to the city of Ghent before returning across the Atlantic Ocean, recently viewed movies, and the belated start of summer in the Boston area. In the meantime, take it easy, -Gene

I got my car back from the body shop last week after $3,000 in repairs–more than the 1998 Honda Civic is worth. The front right and left sides of my coupe were damaged in the three-car fender-bender on my way home from work a few weeks ago. I also had to pay $300+ for a rental, which isn't automatically covered in Massachusetts.

Although I haven't heard about the status of the other two drivers (a young woman had swerved from the right lane into the center lane, forcing the driver there to pin my automobile between his vehicle and the guardrail), I still hope to be reimbursed the $500 insurance deductible since the accident clearly wasn't my fault. I also just noticed that one of my side lights is still out, so I'll have to go back to the shop.

Janice and I managed to get most of our possessions packed before our move within Needham Heights, Mass., this past weekend. Janice's parents, her youngest sister Melinda, and Melinda's precocious 8-year-old daughter Amanda came from Upstate New York to help us. Much thanks also to local friends Thomas K.Y., James B., and Cliff Y. for their assistance, which made moving numerous boxes of books, clothing, decorations, and housewares/garden tools easier! We took several loads in a rented van between our old and new duplexes on Saturday, 15 April 2006. We also ordered pizza for everyone.

On Easter Sunday, Janice and I drove up to the Westin in Waltham for a breakfast buffet with her family before continuing to clean both places and move smaller items. Our new apartment is slightly smaller and is a mirror image of the previous one (things that were on the left are now on the right), which has been somewhat disorienting. Parking is also a bit more limited. Janice's folks left by midafternoon, then Thomas came and helped us move and set up our home computer. He and friend Matt joined us for dinner at Mandarin Cuisine, a nearby Chinese restaurant.

On Monday, I had to go to work, while Janice supervised the hired movers, who took our larger appliances and furniture over. She also dealt with the transition of utilities such as our telephone/cable television/broadband Internet service (our phone number has stayed the same). I've volunteered for an annual writing assignment at CW, and while the timing could be better, I'm now also busy conducting phone interviews in addition to my regular copy editing for print and online.

As David I.S. noted, many of our circles of acquaintances are going through turmoil right now: sick children (on both sides of Janice's and my families), job/house changes (Dave is deep in academic/bureaucratic job stress, Steve M. in Connecticut also has to move, and Nicole L.P. may be changing jobs), and members of the Boston-area social/gaming groups are about to have seasonal turnover. Not to mention the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and resulting oil price gouging, domestic insecurity, and the return of my allergies to pollen and dust. I'll be glad when we'll all be past this.

On a lighter note, I've been able to keep up with the latest episodes of adolescent angst in "Veronica Mars" and "Smallville," the D.C. Comics decennial continuity house-cleaning seems to be paying off in its "One Year Later" storylines, and the final episodes of "Justice League Unlimited" have been decent and foreshadow more superheroic action on the Cartoon Network this coming autumn in "Legion of Superheroes" and "Fantastic Four."

I also recommend the BBC/SciFi Channel's revived "Doctor Who" to those who haven't yet seen the long-running time travel T.V. show. The regular "SciFriday" lineup will return in July. Nickelodeon's "Avatar: the Last Airbender" is better than most anime imported into the U.S. from Asia, IMHO, and has been one influence on my D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands" heroic fantasy campaign.

Speaking of role-playing, I've had to postpone various one-shots and skip a few "Seekers of Lore" sessions. When we left the current Player Characters, they had found themselves involved in a murder mystery in a steampunk future. In addition, the role-play by e-mail parties (led by Dexter V.H./"Faelonia," Byron V.O./"Ibrahim," Carolyn M.P./"Grace," and Greg D.C./"Janus") are busy preparing to fight dragons during delayed face-to-face gatherings.

I look forward to getting back to gaming, although hosting may be a challenge (unpacking is going slowly), and scheduling remains a challenge. "Liberators" and "Animals" alumnus Mark A.S. will be visiting from New Zealand (by way of San Diego and Chicago for work) during the next two weekends. Since I was forced to postpone various visits because of our move and travel next month, Mark will be staying with Thomas, and we'll probably get together for lunch and/or dinner this coming Sunday. In the meantime, I hope that all's well with you…

Friends, the past week has been difficult, but at least it's over. I was busy enough with work, but events, some expected and some not, have added to Janice's and my calendar and expenses.

At about 5:45 p.m. last Tuesday, 28 March 2006, I had just left work and was in the left lane of Speen Street in Framingham, Massachusetts, headed southbound toward the exit for Route 9 East toward Boston. Across from the Natick Mall, a sedan driven by Laura K.C. swerved from the right lane into the center lane, cutting off Michael B. in his Lexus.

He then swung into my lane, striking my green 1998 Honda Civic coupe and forcing me to the guardrail. All three automobiles pulled over immediately after the accident. Fortunately, nobody was injured. Michael and I exchanged information and called the police and our insurance agents on our cell phones, but we found Laura and her passenger to be uncooperative. They said the car wasn't theirs and that they weren't responsible for our fender-bender.

The Natick police arrived, took statements, and let the two young women go. Michael's car was slightly damaged in the left rear quadrant where it had struck my vehicle, which received the worst damage. My right front wheel now rubbed against the wheel well, the suspension on that side was squeaky, and the left front fender was also badly scratched and dented by the guardrail.

I limped home and spent the next few days talking to insurance agents, who said they intend to track down Laura. I was also late for work that Wednesday because I had to drop off my car at a body shop in Norwood, Mass., and pick up a rental 2006 Toyota Corolla. As of this writing, the insurance assessors haven't yet looked at my Civic, but I hope I won't have to pay the deductible since the incident clearly wasn't my fault.

Wednesday night brought more bad news: As Janice and I had suspected, our landlord wasn't renewing our lease for Bobsled Drive. Apparently, after the recent death of his father (who had built numerous apartments in the area about 50 years ago), he had to sell half of his properties to pay taxes. Janice and I had noticed that several units around us had been vacant for weeks, and we thought they might be torn down for luxury homes. About 40 families have been displaced.

Fortunately, Janice immediately began searching for housing. She contacted real estate agents and our landlord, who had not replied to earlier calls and was apologetic. He said that he wanted to keep us as tenants and offered another duplex only a few blocks away. Naturally, despite our problems with October's basement floods and the lease renewal, the chance to move into a nearly identical space in a neighborhood we like and to avoid having to pay deposit, first/last months' rent, and realtor's fees was too good to pass up.

Thanks to our friends who offered their support. Some of them advised us to buy a house, but given our time and cost constraints (we have to move within the next few weeks, and we'll be out of town for much of May), relocating nearby makes the most sense right now. We like Needham Heights, Mass., because it's midway between Janice's technical writing job in Norwood and my copy editing work in Framingham, has public transportation access into Boston, and is a quiet residential community.

Janice and I will be moving within Needham on Easter weekend (April 15 to 17). Her parents and one of her sisters will be coming from Upstate New York to help, and some of the local social/gaming group have also offered their assistance. Thanks in advance! Alas, I wasn't able to get any additional time off from work. As you can imagine, we have lots of books and other stuff to pack within the next two weeks. I spent much of this past weekend filing, so some friends will be getting snailmail packages in the next week or so.

Unfortunately, I've had to postpone the planned visits from out-of-town friends, including Dexter V.H., Erik B.L., Ron J.K., and Carolyn M.P., as well as various one-shot role-playing sessions. They'll have to wait until after our trips to the U.S. Southwest (for a conference in Las Vegas, sightseeing at the Grand Canyon, and volunteering at the Best Friends animal shelter in Utah) and to Belgium (for the baptism of niece Ava with my father's side of the family).

Although we didn't have time to get out to the movies this past weekend (computer-animated comedy "Ice Age 2: Meltdown" and political satire "Thank You for Smoking" opened), Janice and I did take advantage of the nice weather to check out our new place, as well as Needham's renovated public library. Last week's "Dragon King" miniseries on the SciFi Channel was only O.K., but it did prompt me to reread the original Germanic/Scandinavian epics. It's just as well that most genre television shows are in reruns right now, since we'll be busy enough…