Arizona Board Game Society

I went to the Arizona Board Game Society meeting yesterday evening at Gamer's Inn in Mesa, AZ. Five or six people, mostly IT. Good times.

We played Dominion with the Intrique expansion. I misjudged when to switch modes to grabbing up victory points, and so was soundly beaten. I've played Dominion a few times now; it's pretty good. I tried to buy a copy of Dominion at Gamer's Inn but they were out of stock and didn't give me any confidence on when they would be back in stock, so I'll have to get it from Amazon.com instead. Convenient thing, that Amazon.com.

Then we played Power Grid using the France map. That game is great fun but as one of the other players pointed out, the end-game is disappointing in that there's way too much opportunity for players who cannot win to play kingmaker and take actions that choose a winner. Still, the gameplay of the game prior to the final round is compelling and I'll look to play this again.

The evening closed with a quick game of Family Business. It's a quick-playing card game with some depth. It reminded me a little bit of Gloom, but not a lot. I liked it. It's quick, simple, not too hard, but still has some redeeming value with some depth, especially if you try to pay attention to the social aspect and steer the balance and momentum to encourage the other players to eliminate one another.

Some Walkable Locations

I live where there are Some Walkable Locations according to WalkScore.come. I'm pretty amazed the score is this high.

Beware of swimming in nature

PHOENIX --
It sounds like science fiction but it's true: A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die.

Strawberry, AZ waffles

After walking the St. Bernard this morning, I went to Arizona Bread Company and had the Strawberry, AZ waffles. Tasty.

Country Thunder

After church this morning, I went to the Country Thunder event in Florence. I never knew country music could be so much fun.

Wildlife World Zoo

Today I went to the World Wildlife Zoo and enjoyed, among other things, the no-glass-between-you-and-the-real-live-huge boa constrictor exhibit.

Yavapai Lodge

Yavapai Lodge at Grand Canyon with my parents and sister. Good times.

New Goldfields Hiking Guide

There's a new hiking guide available at Barnes & Noble bookstores and elsewhere about hiking in the Goldfields. Looks to be a good one.

Winter Wonderland

“WINTER WONDERLAND” – AZ. STYLE

PALM TREES WAVE, ARE YOU LISTENIN?
IN THE POOL, WATER’S GLISTENIN’, A
BEAUTIFUL SIGHT, WE’RE HAPPY TONITE,
LIVIN’ IN A PHOENIX WONDERLAND.

GONE AWAY IS THE BLIZZARD, HERE TO
STAY IS THE LIZARD, A WARM SUNNY
DAY, WE LIKE IT THAT WAY,
LIVIN’ IN A PHOENIX WONDERLAND.

IN THE DESERT WE WILL HAVE A PICNIC
CACTUS, SAND & RATTLESNAKES IN
THE SUN, CHRISTMAS IS AN OLD
TRADITION: IT’S PINTO BEANS AND
TACOS BY THE TON.

LATER ON WE’LL PERSPIRE
TEMPERATURES RISE EVEN HIGHER,
A WARM SUNNY DAY, WE LIKE IT
THAT WAY, LIVIN’ IN A
PHOENIX WONDERLAND

Goldfield

Dad and I spent the afternoon in Goldfield, which is a tourist trap very near Lost Dutchman State Park, but a very nice tourist trap. The mine tour was fun, as was the train ride.

We stopped by the Mining Camp restaurant for dinner, which was pricy but a great followup to an afternoon wandering a ghost town.

Arizona State Fair

Dad and I went to the Arizona State Fair. It was fun, but not as cool as the Wisconsin State Fair, of which I have many fond memories.

Arizona State Fair and Foo Fighters

I caught the tail end of the Foo Fighters concert this evening at the Arizona State Fair. I think I missed their playing "Times Like These", which is too bad, of all their songs I think it's the one I'm most familiar with and best like. (True to form, however, I don't know the words.)

The cutest aspect by far of the fair was the children's farm exhibit wherein kids could peddle toy tractors to plow a field painted onto the floor, sow seeds and harvest plastic vegetables from a box of dirt, pick plastic oranges attached to wooden tries, and milk fake cows. And, for those tuckered out from all that farm work, there's even a farm porch complete with rocking chairs. So charming.

The fresh roasted corn was delicious.

There were free blood pressure screenings. I'm a little concerned that mine measured in at 140/90. Will have to mention that to the doctor next appointment.

Desert Botanical Garden Afternoon

This afternoon I went to the Desert Botanical Garden for lunch and to peruse the gardens. I think of it as my virtual yard in this apartment in Arizona lifestyle. It was Native American Recognition Day -- though I didn't see anyone I knew. The monarch butterfly greenhouse was amazing.

Lunch on the patio, a chicken chutney with a strawberry-adorned salad, was pretty tasty, and lemonade staved off the thirst of another bright beautiful Arizona day.

Salt River Tubing

Salt River tubing was awesome today. Beautiful weather, remarkable scenery, lots of excitedly partying college/grad student aged people about, and two, count 'em two, herdlets of horses right in the river as we tubed by.

Heart Attack Grill lunch

I met up with a couple friends from work for lunch at Heart Attack Grill today. Kind of fun and worth trying once.

Raising Arizona

This evening I went to the Netflix Rolling Road Show showing of Raising Arizona. I hadn't explored that far east before today and checked out the "ghost town" near the state park before the show. The show itself was great fun, complete with inflatable screen and pre-show antics from the scavenger hunt teams.

An Aqua Kind of Day

Today I splashed around a bit at Sunsplash waterpark and caught the Aquabats concert at Venue of Scottsdale this evening.

w + o = wo.

Sedona

Today dad and I drove to Sedona and hiked the Little Horse trail.

By the Wayside at Yuca Tap Room

Dad and I caught By the Wayside at the Yucca Tap Room this evening. Lovesick Suicide remains their best song.

A story about a parking lot

A few weeks ago, I finished a late-evening workout at the gym and was returning to my car when I noticed a woman repeatedly setting off her car alarm and acting very frustrated. I walked over and asked if there was anything I could do to help. It turned out that she'd put her car into alarm mode somehow and couldn't figure out how to turn it off and so was stranded in this parking lot. We called her son, who apparently knew how to turn off the alarm, and then waited for him, not so very long, talking about life in Arizona, about the challenges of raising teenagers.

I tell my mother this story, and she tells me what a good person I am to have lended help in this way. Maybe, but I don't think that's it.

I tell my sister this story, and she tells me how creepy it is, hanging around people like that, the woman could have just waited for her son in the gym lobby, it being open to the wee hours of the night and all. And while I hope I'm not a creepy person, she's right, that would have been a fine solution to the problem of waiting alone in a parking lot at night.

But here's where I think it's at: that wasn't the problem being solved. Sometimes you just need someone to talk to.