Yesterday I went to get a haircut after we took the babies for their doctor's checkup. Beth was saying that I should get a military "low-reg". I wasn't sure I wanted to at first but I asked for a "fade" and the barber did a pretty good job. He was an old guy with shaky hands - probably been a barber since the 1920s. The only thing that makes it a little strange for me is that he assumed I wanted my hair parted all the time when it was short, so he cut one side shorter than the other. It looks all right but I'll be stuck with the same hairstyle until it grows out enough for another cut (which probably won't take long anyway).
After getting home and getting Beth's mom's dogs back into the fence... Oh yeah, I don't think I mentioned in my journal before that Beth's mom is back. Anyway, her dogs dug under the fence that we had them in and they were running around the backyard, except for the smaller one that ended up at the neighbors. So we got the dogs back and then I left to visit my friend Rick.
At Rick's house as he settled in from his day at work we talked about religion for a while and then played a few games.
Quoridor was first on the table. It was a new game for Rick, but even though he takes a beating in games he'll still come back for more. After I played a 6 game winning streak he finally came back for a win. We were considering playing a few more times but he thought that I already had enough wins against him and he was happy to finally beat me.
Carcassonne came out next - another new one for Rick. He caught onto the concept of the game pretty quick and initially had a 20-point lead on me. In the end though he was getting lots of his followers locked up in things that slowed down his points. We had two games and they both had similar results. In the end of the first game the score was 93 to 141, my win, and the second game was 96 to 143, again, my win.
Ultimate Stratego is something that Rick has played before but he couldn't remember the details about special abilities of pieces, even after I told them what they were again. He got Spys and Scouts confused sometimes. In the first few games he killed lots of my Scouts with quick attacks from his Scouts, so in the last game I put my Scouts a little further in so when he attacked with his Scouts he killed himself against my next weakest guys. We played 4 games and Rick won once - surprising me by marching one of his high ranking guys right down into the place where my flag was at.
It was a nice night being able to play games with my friend. Hopefully the family will also be interested in playing some games before or after Thanksgiving Dinner today. I've got Bang! and The Settlers Of Catan (with the 5-6 player expansion thanks to my brother) ready for some action.
I've been reading stuff on other sites where people are suggesting rules changes to Conquest Of The Empire that are so extreme that it seems like they are looking for a whole different game. (Do they really believe that the designer will read their stuff and consider it in the first place?) Now I agree that there are some things that could be improved in the game, but what are they looking for here? I've thought of some ideas that could make some interesting alternatives for a game, but what is the point in announcing some kind of off the wall suggestions that haven't even been tested. It's not like these people are giving ideas that they've worked with. I mean, some of these people are talking about changes that will affect the whole feel of the game... changing it from a light war game into an in-depth political game with voting for Caesar and having a Senate. It doesn't even sound like these people are thinking about the same game.
I just downloaded a new song from Blindside, which is available on their website (www.blindsideonline.com). The new album is due out in February. Based on this one track that's available now, I think I'm going to pick up the new CD when it comes out. Of course, I'm looking forward to the new Demon Hunter CD coming out too, but that's a bit further down the road.
It seems like I've been getting stressed out a bit too much during my "weekends". I'm always wishing to be able to play a game with friends or something. Beth is not interest in playing StarCraft and right now my friends that would play don't have time to. Sometimes I just need an escape. I don't have any other video games that I play right now, so I think I'm going to start playing StarCraft online on Thursdays even if my friends can't play - at least for a little while.
Yesterday we all went out to some yard sales in the morning. We didn't find much that we wanted but we did have a good time getting out of the house. Beth has suggested that we try to get out for a walk or something away from the house on a regular basis.
