Friends, I hope you had a good Presidents' Day weekend. Although I wasn't able to attend the funeral or shiva call for Steve M.R.'s mother, I'm glad that many of our mutual friends paid their respects and shared their condolences with him and his family.

Unfortunately, college chum Dexter V.H. had to cancel his visit to Massachusetts at the last minute this past weekend due to concerns about the health of his father, who is 90+ years old. Understandably, while Dex wanted to get away from New York, asking his parents to take care of four of his children would pose a challenge. We have stayed in touch and hope to arrange another visit in April, when Erik B.L. and Carolyn M.P. also plan to come up. David I.S. may also be in town for work at some point.

Speaking of houseguests, high school friends Damon F.P. and Steve M. may be in the Boston area this coming weekend. I don't generally recommend that people visit Janice and me in Needham Heights during New England's long winters, but we've had a relatively mild season so far, and it's always good to see friends, since we get fewer visitors than when we lived in the capital area. I hope to visit family and friends in Virginia later this coming spring.

After some last-minute reshuffling, I ended up running another one-shot of my D20 "Mutants & Masterminds" 2nd Ed. "S.J.I.: Drake's Port" superheroic game (previously run using "Vortex," D.C. Heroes, and GURPS "Supers/Powers"). The five local role-players who made it had fun, as novice metahuman vigilantes met and fought a Sentinel (a mutant-hunting robot from Marvel's "X-Men" comic books). See my Yahoo/eGroups Web site for Greg D.C./"Electric Slide's" amusing update. I also played some "City of Heroes," the multiplayer online game that Dexter and I hope others will join.

In addition, Janice and I got our taxes done at H&R Block this past weekend (we'll be getting refunds from both the federal and state governments), and we made our travel reservations for our trip to Las Vegas in May for the Society for Technical Communications conference, the Best Friends animal sanctuary in Utah, and the Grand Canyon. We were pretty tired from recent colds/flu and the workweek, so we laid relatively low. We also got a telephone call from Ann W. in New Zealand.

I caught up on reading and videotaped episodes of "The Boondocks." I also recommend Nickelodeon's computer-animated sci-fi comedy "Jimmy Neutron" and anime-style fantasy "Avatar: the Last Airbender." The latest episodes of "Justice League Unlimited" have also been pretty good, and I understand that the same creative team is working on a futuristic "Legion of Superheroes" television series for the Cartoon Network…

I've also got the latest D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands: Seekers of Lore" heroic fantasy session tonight to prepare for. When we left the privateers, they had just begun exploring the barbarian-held port of Gisar in search of its lost magic school/library… Due to being busy at work, I've fallen behind a bit with the role-play by e-mail folks, including Carolyn M.P./"Grace," Byron V.O./"Ibrahim," and Greg/"Janus," but one-shots should help us focus.

As you can see, my calendar fills up rather quickly, but being busy always leads to creativity, if at the risk of burnout. Let's hope that spring is around the corner….

Friends, I hope you've had a good fortnight. First, Janice and I offer our condolences to Steve M.R. and family over the death of his mother this past Friday. While I unfortunately won't be able to travel to New York for the funeral or New Jersey or Virginia for the shiva call, my thoughts are with our friends as they deal with this loss.

I've spent much of the past week and a half recovering from a bad cold or flu that has been going around. Janice missed half a day of work, and I was out sick last Monday. I've also been swamped with work, even taking some home. At least I've had time to catch up on things such as the Halmi brothers' "Jason and the Argonauts" on the SciFi Channel, BBC/A&E grifters on "Hustle," and the final episodes of "Justice League Unlimited."

Janice and I have also been cocooning with shows on Animal Planet ("Animal Precinct") and the Food Network ("Good Eats" and "Unwrapped" are our current favorites), and Janice is looking forward to the Westminster dog show in New York tonight and tomorrow. We've also watched a bit of the Winter Olympics, as well as the Super Bowl.

On the role-playing front, while weekend one-shots continue to go well (the latest introduced James B.'s 11-year-old nephew Joey to gaming), we've had some difficulty getting quorum for the regular Tuesday night D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands: Seekers of Lore" heroic fantasy sessions. While Brian P.W.'s GURPS 4e "Fantasy: Fallowshare" miniseries is winding down, Atilla C. is leaving to start his own group, and Valentine's Day tomorrow means the other married guys will have to miss the game. At least yesterday's 18 inches of snow have mostly been cleared from the roads, and my current party is still relatively large.

With planned visits by Dexter V.H., Damon F.P. and Steve M., and eventually Carolyn M.P. coming up, my weekends will be busy! Janice and I are also beginning to plan for our Las Vegas trip for the Society for Technical Communications conference (and some sightseeing) in early May. Around that time, my parents will be visiting my mother's side of the family in the Philippines, and Janice's folks will be vacationing in Florida. Be well, -Gene

The past two weeks have been relatively quiet. While the unseasonably warm weather is coming to an end, my work hours have been long, and the local social/gaming groups have been dealing with some short-term scheduling changes.

Steve M.R.'s mother continues her battle against cancer, and most of my peers are coming to the painful realization of our parents' mortality. On a lighter note, Damon F.P. and Steve M., two friends of mine since high school, plan to visit Massachusetts in two weeks.

Janice and I attended the "Death by Chocolate" charity event at the Sheraton in Newton, Mass., this past Sunday. We were joined by Beruk A. and my boss Michele L.D'F. and her husband Paul D'F. On an unrelated note, Janice and I are taking tomorrow off from work for the second round of her periodontal surgery.

We've been watching some so-called reality television lately. No, not the "Lord of the Flies"-style competitions that reward backstabbing, but documentaries on the History Channel; home-design shows on HGTV; and "Good Eats," "Unwrapped," and "Iron Chef America" on the Food Network. We've also been enjoying A&E's "Hustle," and I'm glad that "Smallville" and "Veronica Mars" have resumed, despite the traumatic events for the young-adult characters on those shows. We'll see how the merger of the WB and UPN affects genre television…

While the D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands: Seekers of Lore" heroic fantasy group won't be meeting tonight due to bad weather and the unavailability of some role-players, the play by e-mail teams have continued to forge ahead, as Byron V.O./"Ibrahim" retrieved a large enchanted crystal, Carolyn M.P./"Grace" visited a Sea Elf artifact bearer at the Coral Temple, and Greg D.C./"Janus" travels to eastern mountains on his Satyr Druid's own quest. I'll also be running a one-shot for James B.'s young nephew this coming Saturday…

Friends, it has been a busy fortnight since my last posting. After a favorable annual review, I got a small promotion to "senior copy editor" at CW, just in time for Donna S. to join our unit. Of course, we're still swamped, but these developments should help a bit as we get more online editorial content to edit. Janice has had various meetings, and we plan to attend the Society for Technical Communications conference in Las Vegas in early May.

While many people (including Janice's mother) have been fighting winter illnesses, our thoughts are with Steve M.R., whose mother has terminal cancer. In other health news, I was interviewed by a local television station for a story about hernia surgery:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/video/6190053/index.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/wcvb/20060117/lo_wcvb/3198990

The fifteen-minute interview about my 1993 bilaterial inguinal hernia repair and difficult recovery yielded 15 seconds of screen time, but that's television journalism. At least I was quoted in context and my name was correct. I also had my first digital X-ray during a recent dental exam–the image appeared on a monitor immediately after it was taken.

For the sake of brevity, I'll avoid talking about my ongoing frustration with politics right now; suffice to say I think we're headed in the wrong direction on too many fronts. On a lighter note, as posted at Steve M.R.'s blog and elsewhere, astronomers have found a tenth planetoid in our solar system, proving that humanity's exploration of space has only just begun.

My D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands: Seekers of Lore" heroic fantasy campaign has been going well, as the latest Boston-area Player Characters reached the city of Hesolin, met various people, went shopping, and fended off Drow assassins. They're approaching "name level" (10 in old AD&D). The role-play by e-mail teams, led by Carolyn M.P./"Grace," Byron V.O./"Ibrahim," and Greg D.C./"Janus," continued to make progress in their own quests…

Out of character, Paul J./"Sai" & Alysia/"Aoelia" returned to college, and a few of the guys weren't able to attend our Martin Luther King Day session. I hope that Brian P.W.'s GURPS 4e "Fantasy: Fallowshare" miniseries and Atilla C.'s campaign are successful, and I had good chats with Carolyn & Hans C.H. and Dexter V.H./"Faelonia." Dex and I hope to return to the "City of Heroes" online superhero game in the next week or so, and David I.S. and Steve M.R. have expressed interest in joining us. Good luck to Peter's paintball party in the Poconos this coming weekend! (Say that 10 times fast…)

Speaking of superheroes, I've been following D.C. Comics' "Infinite Crisis" crossover–its semiannual cleaning house of continuity. My favorite titles right now are "Green Arrow," "Birds of Prey," "Titans/Outsiders," and Alex Ross' "Justice." Marvel Comics has done something similar, although it still has more alternate universes. After years away, I find myself again reading "Avengers," "Shanna," "Spider Man/Black Cat," and "Astonishing X-Men."

I also recommend a number of quasi-independent monthly comic books, not all of which involve costumed superheroes: "Astro City," "Conan/Red Sonja," "Planetary," and "Powers." Some of the local gamers and I plan to return to my D20 "Mutants & Masterminds" 2nd Ed.: "S.J.I.: Drake's Port" scenarios when we get the time.

Speaking of superheroes, Janice and I enjoyed the final episodes of the Cartoon Network's "Teen Titans." I thought that the penultimate storyline, about the enlarged team's international battles against the Brotherhood of Evil, to be a satisfying end (similar to both the comics and "Justice League" plots), but the last episode, focusing on the ever-popular Beast Boy (see "the Zeppo" on "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer"), was a bittersweet coda. The last episodes of "Justice League Unlimited" and the end of Bruce Timm and Paul Dini's excellent interpretation of the D.C. Universe air in February.

This past weekend, while catching glimpses of the end of the New England Patriots' SuperBowl "dynasty," Janice and I also caught "Hustle," a new series on A&E. The caper show, like the original "Mission Impossible," "The Sting," or "Maverick," is about con artists doing good while grifting. Apparently, the show was popular in England, where it was made, and between that and the BBC's revived "Doctor Who" (to air on the SciFi Channel later this spring), we find ourselves watching more British than broadcast television.

Speaking of speculative fiction, I agree that the half-season returns of the long-running "Stargate SG1" and the revisionist "Battlestar Galactica" have been excellent. Both military space operas feature strong writing, sympathetic characters (especially on SG1), and solid visual effects. "Stargate Atlantis" and "Smallville" are valiantly trying to keep up, IMHO. "The Boondocks'" MLK episode was also suprisingly well-done.

I haven't been to the movies in a while, but some of the Boston-area folks may try to see vampire/werewolf sequel "Underworld 2" in the next week or so. We passed on the overly teen-oriented "Tristan & Isolde" and tweeny CGI "Hoodwinked," but there'll be enough to catch in the coming months…

Friends, I hope that your holidays were happy and that 2006 is better than 2005! After returning from visiting Janice's family in Upstate New York for Christmas, we had a relatively relaxing workweek after months of being very busy. Among other things, we bought some shelving at the new Ikea in Stoughton, Massachusetts.

We met Greg D.C. and Thomas K.Y. and his brother Tony Y. at the Boston Museum of Science for the "Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination" exhibit. While not as extensive as last year's "Lord of the Rings" show or similar exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., it did have lots of interesting educational features for children and a full-size mockup of the "Millennium Falcon's" cockpit!

I also ran two D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands: Seekers of Lore" heroic fantasy sessions, including the first one hosted at my duplex in Needham Heights, Mass., since October's basement floods. Thanks to friends and holiday gifts, I'm continuing to rebuild my library of books destroyed in those floods. The current Player Character party fought seafaring Ogres and Undead pirates as they sailed northeast…

In addition, I made a cameo as Elf Ranger "Helena" in Paul J.'s D&D3.5 game, which turned out to be a sequel of sorts to the successful Flying Citadel scenario I ran during Dexter V.H./"Faelonia" and Stuart C.G./"Tunnel's" visit in November. Brian P.W. is gearing up for his GURPS 4th Ed. Fantasy miniseries, which I hope is successful.

However, I haven't yet gotten back to the "City of Heroes" massively multiplayer online game (although David I.S. and Steve M.R. may soon join Dexter and me), and I'm still behind with the role-play by e-mail folks–Dex, Stu, Carolyn M.P./"Grace," Bryon V.O./"Ibrahim," and Greg/"Janus." See the Yahoo/eGroups message board for more about these games:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/DnD3VanishedLands/

Speaking of visitors, CW's copy desk plans to meet Jacqui M.D. for dinner while she's in town from Des Moines, Iowa, interviewing. Our former co-worker and fellow genre entertainment enthusiast will be staying in Needham. I probably won't be get to Byron's home in Hopkinton, Mass., for the SciFi Channel's half-season premieres tomorrow night (Friday, 6 January 2006) or to Thomas' place in Lexington, Mass., for a viewing of the "Full Metal Alchemist" steampunk/fantasy anime on Sunday.

I'm looking forward to "SciFriday," including new episodes of the long-running "Stargate SG1," space opera spin-off "Stargate: Atlantis," and the revisionist "Battlestar Galactica." Let's hope that the current season of teenage sleuth "Veronica Mars," young adult metahumans on "Smallville," and the time travelers on the BBC's revived "Doctor Who" continue to go strong.

Not all is well in genre television: "Teen Titans" is ending after this month, and the final episodes of the animated "Justice League Unlimited" have been delayed. Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and Warner Brothers' team of animators and actors have given us close to the definitive version of the D.C. Comics universe for the past decade, IMHO. And yes, I'm also still following comic books and graphic novels, as the two biggest publishers continue darker crossovers in search of the heroic light…

While I watch the latest "Batman" cartoon, it will be a while before those iconic characters are again handled as well (although the live-action "Batman Begins" and "Superman Returns," not to mention various Marvel Comics adaptations like "X-Men 3," are cause for fanboy celebration). Of course, this only whets the appetite to run or play "City of Heroes," D20 "Mutants & Masterminds" 2nd Ed., or GURPS 4th Ed. "Powers," preferably in my "S.J.I.: Drake's Port" setting… Excelsior! -Gene