I had a good time today. This morning we were in a bit of a rush trying to pick up a little around the house before Rick came over while searching for plane tickets for my mom and sister to go to Michigan. About 11:30 our caseworker called to say she was dropping by in a half hour so then the rush was really on.
About an hour after Claudine left, Rick arrived. We talked for a bit while Beth was getting ready to leave for an appointment.
While she was gone, "Ambitious" Rick and I watch the baby girl and tried to play Pathfinder. We actually managed to get 6 games played before Beth got back. We decided to play "Best-of-7" and I was first to 4 wins. If we had played to 3, Rick would have been the winner because the second and third games were both his.
After Beth got home and we checked out the hotel where Rick is staying tonight, "Wolfman" came and joined us in a game of Carcassonne. Rick and "Wolfman" took an early lead, scoring about 20 or 30 points before Beth and I got on the board. I was the last to get any points, but all the other players were sure I had something planned. Of course I did, but it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. I just wasn't getting those tiles that I was hoping for. I had my farmers set for high scoring, but I just didn't get on the board quick enough in the beginning to get those necessary points for closing the gap between Beth and me. Beth finished in first place, I had a distant second, Rick was shortly behind me with a one-point lead over "Wolfman".
We played Rack-O next - one of Beth's favorite games. (That should be in her profile on my website. I'm going to have to ask her to update her profile too.) We played until Beth had to feed our son. I had a good lead by that time with two "Rack-Os" anyway.
"Wolfman" had time for a quick game after that, so I brought out and explained Pente to Rick and "Wolfman" since neither had played before. At first they seemed a little confused but after the first couple turns they both seemed to have caught on. I thought Rick had it in the bag when he started capturing "Wolfman's" stones, but I was wrong. After a few minutes "Wolfman" had captured 5 sets of Rick's stones for the win - allowing "Wolfman" to leave in a good mood.
Next we brought out Therapy - a game that we had bought at the thrift shop just recently for $1.50. This is the second time Beth and I played the game, so it was really easy to explain to Rick. Rick started out getting a quick lead with 3 "Masteries" while Beth had 2 and I still had zero. As Beth and Rick went into "Group Therapy", the score was soon tightened up. By the end there was only one "Mastery" difference between all of us - actually, I was the one with only 5, and Beth was the first to cross the finish line for the win.
For the last game of the night we played Oodles - another game we bought for $1.50. We were able to start the game after stealing 4 AA batteries from the VCR and DVD player remotes. The game was much more interesting than I thought it would be - especially since I answered quite a few questions. Strangely, it doesn't matter how many questions you answer to determine how well you score. Oodles scoring method only gives credit to the person who answers the last question on a card of 10 or so questions. Beth didn't really like the sound of that, not that I blame her, but I thought we should at least try the game once with the original rules. I got 4 cards (5 cards wins the game) before Beth fell asleep in her chair, thus forfeiting the game. I'm quite confident that I would have won that one anyway. Rick had 2 cards and Beth only had 1.
Well… another long journal entry after an entertaining day of gaming… just what my website needs. 
I got my Amazon order yesterday, which included the full version of Paint Shop Pro 8 along with the new CD from Extol called "Synergy". After checking out "Synergy" I definitely agree with one review that I read that compared it to Believer's last album. I'd also say though that it reminded me of Death. I haven't listened to Death in quite a while, but I do seem to remember Chuck's (Death's frontman) vocals sounding very similar to some of the songs on "Synergy".
I purchased Union Pacific and San Marco online yesterday. I'm looking forward to checking out the games, but I really didn't want to miss out on getting a highly marketable out-of-print item. Actually, if it weren't for that I probably wouldn't even be getting the games because I explained to Beth about a couple years ago when I could have bought Avalon Hill's Titan for $17 and I missed it. Now I see Titan selling online for nearly 10 times that and I'm kicking myself.
