Gnomes Eye View

My Office Christmas Tree

2009-12-22T19:26:43Z

gnomedude @ 2009-12-21T08:24:00

2009-12-21T13:24:43Z

The big snow storm in my area of the east coast is over. The snow has been shoveled and most of the streets are cleared.

We are definatly going to have a white Christmas this year :)

Happy Thanksgiving Early

2009-11-24T13:05:13Z

Im heading south to see my folks for Thanksgiving so im not sure how much computer time I will get soooo

Everybody have a good day and weekend and eat WAY TOO MUCH! :)

Fort Hood

2009-11-06T13:50:18Z

My thoughts and prayers go out to all those in and around Fort Hood.

Gnomes Away

2009-10-05T12:33:10Z

Sending Gnomes off to help Alisa, Allison and Jody to further help with birthday stuff and generaly whatever needs to be done. Hopefully they wont eat all your munchies and drink all your beer while they are there.

Sending some extra Gnomes off to help Alisa. Gnomes are considered good luck by some so hopefully they will help in the back ground, quietly doing this and that and helping with the healing proccess.

Hope you all had a good day

Happy Birthday Zoe!

2009-08-28T14:08:31Z

Ok, so her birthday isnt until tomorrow but I wont have computer access tomorrow so I figured I would get it in today.

To my favorite niece (well, shes my only neice)
Have a good one!

gnomedude @ 2009-08-28T08:58:00

2009-08-28T13:01:17Z

Why cant I just be happy with the standard Dell Alienware laptop? Why did I have to click on the costomizable button and choose all the high end options?? Why did I look at the 5K price tag!! WHY! WHY!!

Oooooh! I want one sooooo bad!!

New goal. Zero out my credit card (which has very little on it at the moment) and buy me a souped up gaming laptop!

Origins

2009-07-02T15:20:06Z

I’m finally getting back into the swing of the daily grind after spending 4 days at Origins game fair. What a blast! I had the basic registration as well as a ribbon to get me into the board game room. I managed to cram a LOT of gaming in the time I was at convention. Between spending a lot of time playing the demos at the Mayfair booth or checking out games in the board game room, it was a weekend of eating, sleeping and gaming

The highlights of my stay are

1. Finally won a game of Railroad Tycoon against 2 people I have played a lot with and both of them are real good at it :)
2. Collected a series of ribbons from the Mayfair booth. The ribbons they where passing out where based on the resources gathered in the Catan games and you had to play certain games at the Mayfair booth (play for free :) to earn the different ribbons. First you get a grain, sheep, wood, clay and stone ribbon to earn the Champion of Catan ribbon. This level enters you in a drawing for a game prize, gets you a 50% coupon for almost any Mayfair game and also I got a promotional Catan Geographies map only available at Origins and Gencon.
I then needed to play 3 more games to ear coins, paper and another that isn’t coming to mind to earn the Defender of Catan ribbon. This ribbon entered me a second time in the prize drawings and also got me a second different Catan Geographies promo map.
I am now wishing I kept a log of all the games I played. I’m thinking it was close to 15 to 20 different games for the entire week.
Of course, mix in all this game playing with lots of great people and lots of good food.
A god time was had by all. (Or at least by me :)

Vacation Time

2009-06-24T17:10:13Z

Aaaaahh! Spent 4 days NC to visit my parents. Got back to work on Tuesday. Worked Wednesday. Leave tomorrow to head to Columbus Ohio for a game convention named Origins. Life is good at the moment

Next week is gonna be rough. I will actualy have to work a full 5 days in a row.

Slipping Past the Work Filter

2009-06-23T19:01:37Z

For quite a while (since St Patties Day I think) work has filtered live journal.
On a whim, I decided to give it a shot since I have a newer computer at my desk now.
Here I am. I will now be able to check more then once a blue moom and see what you all have been up too.

Yea, yea ... I could check it more at home but that would bite into my game time :)

Happy St Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T14:12:13Z

After having dug to a depth of 10 meters last year, Scottish scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 100 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 100 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the Scots, in the weeks that followed, British scientists dug to a depth of 20 meters, and shortly after, headlines in the UK newspapers read: "British archaeologists have found traces of 200-year-old copper wire and have concluded that their ancestors already had a high-tech communications network a hundred years earlier than the Scots."

One week later, "The Kerryman," a southwest Irish newsletter, reported the following: "After digging as deep as 30 meters in peat bog near Tralee, Danny McCole, a self taught archeologist, reported that he found absolutely nothing. Paddy has therefore concluded that 300 years ago Ireland had already gone wireless."

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Prezcon 2009

2009-03-05T14:26:49Z

Last weekend I was able to go to Prezcon. A large local board gaming convention in Charlottsville VA

It was a blast. A friend and I arrived there at around 10:00 am on Thursday and we jumped right into gaming. By the time we took a break, it was 9:00 pm and we had not even checked into our room yet. (Fortunately the third person sharing the room had already checked us in. We just needed to grab some keys)

(could not figure out how to link somebody else's photo stream so here is the link)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/erichaas/sets/72157614706417883/

This was nothing but board gaming, starting at around 10:00 every day and going well into the morning hours of the next day

The games I played (some of them more then once) are listed below. I'm also including a link to one of my friends Flickr site cause he was wandering around with a camera in hand, snapping photos.

My games list
Thursday
*McGartland
You are a NASCAR driver trying to beat your competitors
*Battlestar Galactica
Its the humans against the Cylons. Can the humans jump the ship before their resources run out or will the Cylons take over the ship before the jump happens
*Dominion
A card game where you use the cards in hand to build your deck and eventually buy more victory points then everybody else
*Chicago Express
You are a rail stock holder who is trying to build rails and improve them so you earn more then your competitors
*Steel Driver
Another rail game with the above type of play (but different :)
*Alhambra
Will the village you build be better then the others?

Friday
*Tiners Trail
Your a miner/prospector who tries to outbid and out mine the others.
*Snow Tails
Your speeding down a dog sled course. Will you swoosh and whoosh to victory or end up smacking into a wall or hugging a tree?
*Felix
Your bidding on a bag of cats. Lets hope there are no bad cats or nasty dogs in that bag!
*Tiki Topple
Living on the islands and building totem poles can be fun. If you can make sure your sections of the pole are on top, you get the fame and fortune that go with it
*Aquire
You are building hotels and buying stock in the hopes that mergers over time will shoot you up to the top
*Poison
Three pots of potions brewing but they can only hold so much. Even worse, somebody may spike a pot with a poison. If you add to a pot and spill it, you MUST empty the pot. Happy mixing
*Formula Motor Racing.
You are again a race car driver trying to beat out the other teams to the finish line
*Robo Rally
Mr Roboto calling! Can you program your robot to out maneuver the others through the factory obstacles and get to the flags first? Watch out for those lasers and don't fall into a pit
*Monster Menace Across America
ROOOOAAAAR! The monsters are invading America and YOU are one of them. A real monster smack down to see who is the top mutant.

Saturday
*Roll Through the Ages
You juggle people, food and goods to build more towns, research improvements and build wonders. (A quick dice driven game that is very simple to learn and play)
*Roads and Boats
You start out with 3 donkeys, some wood and some stone. From there you build up your town in the hopes of eventually mining gold, minting coin and producing stock. Watch out where you leave your resources laying about, other towns can steal them

(I only played 2 games on Saturday because this is also when the convention auction was held and also because Roads and Boats ended up being a 7 hour game)

Sunday
*Dominion
*Robo Rally
I manage to get into the semi finals so ended up playing this again and got quickly squashed by my competitors
*Little Italy
You are driving through the street of Italy picking up points of the dice rolls are in your favor

We left the Con at about 1:30 on Sunday.
Got home at around 5:00
A good time was had by all

gnomedude @ 2009-01-29T08:52:00

2009-01-29T13:53:04Z

A big HAPPY Birthday to Wil, my most favorite nephew :) Enjoy your threeness today. Have a good one and dont torment your mom too much. (But just enough to have fun. You are three after all. Its in your job description :)

gnomedude @ 2008-11-21T08:57:00

2008-11-21T13:57:55Z

Wooohooo! Its snowing in Maryland :)

The Guest -Game Room is Finished

2008-11-14T14:44:45Z

Yes, I finally finished it to the point that I can host a game day. The room already has received the mom and dad seal of approval. The stayed in the guest room on their last visit.

Now off to the next room

WoW

2008-11-13T13:27:49Z

Wooohooo! The World of Warcraft expansion (Return of the Lich King) went live at 12 midnight. If the gaming gods are in a good mood, I will have the collectors addition waiting for me at home when I get there this afternoon Happy Gnome!

In other news, I finaly finished my guest room game room. I even have pictures and will hopefully be posting those pic's to my flickr account on Friday

So stay tuned

MD Ren Fair

2008-09-16T23:47:41Z

Made my annual trip to the Maryland Renaissance Fair on Sunday. Had a great time and the weather was fantastic

Here is a pic of me and a couple friends. We where waiting in front of the white Stag Tavern for some others who were on their way over.

Is it Friday Yet?

2008-05-14T12:36:03Z

So far this week.

1. Our office was initiated into our new space by the locals this last weekend. Of the 10 vehicals in our fleet (A mix of Soil Conservation, Maryland Department of Ag and USDA vehicals) 6 of them where vandilized. It ranged from slashed tires to opinions painted on the vehicals. This is one of the few times I am glad I dont have a vehical of my own.

2. Im starting to work on another room in my house. One wall has quite a few cracks running through the hores hair plaster. To prep for this, I have to chisle out each crack, cleaning out all the crumbleing plaster. This will allow me to put a wire mesh in the crack (Yes, some of the cleaned out areas are as wide as 2 inches) before plastering. One of the cracks follows the corner between the wall and ceiling. As I was chilsing this out, I sorta lost balance and toppled off the ladder. (Not that my balence is all that good to begin with) Lessoned learned, limit time spent on that ladder :P
Hopefully I can get some picts up of work in progress on flicker soon.

3. Attacked by a cat that was trying to make a home in my upstairs open porch. I go up there once in a while this time of year to check for wasps nests. The little buggers seem to like the environs up there so I will get quite a few nests popping up this time of year. I walk up the steps and pop through the door and have a very scared hissing cat running at me. I stomped on the floor and yelled which caused the cat to change directions and shoot out the window. As cats do, it landed on all fores and bolted out of the back of my yard. I never did look to see if any wasp nests where forming. Looks like I need to get a screen door put up.

On a good note
Everything I planted in my garden has survived the late frosts we have had, and is actualy comming up. If everything survives that is comming up now, I will have lots of spinach to feeze this year :) (And this is only my spring planting)

Maybe I just need a vacation.

And maybe a Dungeon Crawl

2008-05-02T17:05:09Z

Looks like one of the board gaming groups I meet with (GCOM) has a small group that wants to spend a day playing D&D

They assumed I could make it (havent gotten the schedual yet) so im rolling up a gnome character just in case they schedual it so I can make it.

We have plenty of warriors, healers and casters. After talking to the DM about what he will accept, he suggested and so im going with a duel class rogue/ranger

Hopefully there is not a lot of difrence between the first 3.0 basic books and the ones out now cause that is what I will be working with to roll up my first version 3 toon :)

Now, where do I start and where are my dice ........!

gnomedude @ 2008-04-23T15:13:00

2008-04-23T19:20:01Z

Considering im surrounded by many people with aristic talent and am pretty comfortable in knowing that you all have the talent and I .... ummm ..... play in the dirt for a living.

Then something like this happens

--------------------------------------------------
From: Emma J. Williams
Subject: Schmap: Texas Photo Inclusion
Hi Gnomedude,

I am delighted to let you know that one of your photos with a Creative Commons license has been selected for inclusion in the newly released second edition of our Schmap Texas Guide:

Police Officer's Memorial
www.schmap.com/texas/parks/p=94614/i=94614_1.jpg

If you like the guide and have a website, blog or personal page, then please also check out the customizable widgetized versions of our Schmap Texas Guide, complete with your published photo:

www.schmap.com/guidewidgets/p=19622227N00/c=SG33011681

Please enjoy the guide!

Best regards,

Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides
-------------------------------------------------

Is that cool or what! (Yea, yea .. I know ... probably just "what")

Ok, back to playing in the dirt :)

(A "Thank You" goes out to artslave for telling me about the Creative Commons licence)

gnomedude @ 2008-03-27T15:10:00

2008-03-27T19:11:14Z

I did better then I would have thought

For Those Dungeon and Dragons Fans

2008-03-04T17:53:19Z

(Posted on Troll Lords games forums):
Ernest Gary Gygax has passed away in his home.

gnomedude @ 2008-02-27T13:07:00

2008-02-27T18:17:20Z

Since I enjoy hearing about others home improvment projects and its been a while since I have posted, I figure I would pop something up and show off my last room renovation.

Been working on fixing up a upstairs room in my house and turning it into a bedroom. It is quieter and warmer there for a better room then where I was.

Here is the link

I must say im glad it is done with the exception of putting stuff up on the walls and replaceing the ceiling fan. It was a little more work then I was expecting due to some unknown crumbling plaster and a door frame that needed to be rebuilt. There are before and after photos.
As soon as I find a home for a metal wardrobe in the old room that I dont need anymore, I will start on that one. It is plaster on brick so shouldnt (knock on wood) take as much work to get to the painting stage

Happy Birthday Will

2008-01-29T13:34:14Z

A big Happy Birthday to William A. Snyder. May your 2nd birthday be a good good day full of fun and play :)

Big hugs to ya from your Uncle Bryan

Have a happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T12:54:48Z

For those who enjoy this day, dont eat too much :)

Have a good relaxing day.