I'm back!

[yendi]

Made it back alive last night! Woohoo!

Had a wonderful holiday season, as always. shadesong's biological family is comprised of truly wonderful people, and we always feel like we're at home when we're with them. And our final 24 hours was spent with morenasangre and farren, who really are family, regardless of any biological connections.

The time with both families was basically spent the same way -- hanging out, talking, eating, and playing with dogs. 'song's aunt and uncle have a poodle named Pepper and a chia-pap named Petey, which meant I was amongst two of the few breeds who don't make me react. Both are sweet, cuddly pets. Wendy and Bret have two adorable bigger dogs, Evie and Sheila, who are wonderful and sweet but who, alas, do a superb job of triggering my allergies. Still, they're cuddly and fun puppies.

Time spent with both families was what made it a wonderful holiday. But that doesn't mean that presents weren't exchanged, either.

Loot: From the family: Simpsons season 4, Puerto Rico, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (something I pretty desperately need), and Rocky and Bullwinkle season 2 (containing over 1000 hours of material!).

From morenasangre and farren: The Science of Supervillians (they'd given me the first one a year or two ago), which all comics geeks should read, and The Future of Spacetime, which looks really really nifty.

I flew back last night, and only had minor Delta delays. Both shadesong and Elayna are spending a few days in FLA, which means I get the greatest gift of all for a day or two -- free time and a house to myself! Anyone who knows me well knows that I tend to need recharge time alone. :-)

Time to get to work, which basically means cleaning out my inbox from all the crap that piled up.

Comments

[rollick.livejournal.com]

I also got "Puerto Rico" for Christmas, and am all geeked out about it. I'd only played it a couple of times, but I'd really enjoyed it, so I'm looking forward to more.

hate doing this...

[iresprite.livejournal.com]

biological family is comprised of truly wonderful people,

her biological family comprises some truly wonderful people,
or,
biological family is composed of truly wonderful people,

For some reason, that's one of those small nitpicky grammar things that sticks out at me.

Punch me in the nose if I'm being overly annoying! :)

Re: hate doing this...

[moonfire77.livejournal.com]

i saw that too but for some reason i thought it was acceptable either way (comprises or is comprised of).

Re: hate doing this...

[yendi]

Hell, I can't be a Grammar Bitch and get upset when others correct mistakes. :-)

FWIW, Fowler's does say that opposition to comprised of is "weakening" But that's no excuse.

[yendi]

It's one of the few games I've played that keeps getting better. Just an amazing little game. Now I need to track down San Juan (the card game version).

[envoy.livejournal.com]

San Juan is, sadly a pale immitation of Puerto Rico, seriously. It is however, faster, easier to play, and has a much stronger randomization factor, which makes it nice to play with more inexpereinced Puerto Rico players.

If you search for Puerto Rico online there's a number of places to play out there, I'm a *big* fan of BrettSpeilWelt (sp?) It's german, but there's instructions out there for how to change the Java application to english, once you've done that you can play huge numbers of games online, including Puerto Rico and San Juan (and they definately have the best looking interface for them out there too.)

Re: hate doing this...

[iresprite.livejournal.com]

Fowler's does say that opposition to comprised of is "weakening"

Yes, weakening! And soon the power of Castle Grayskull will be mine!

*lightning crackles, then explodes in background*

I've never heard of this Fowler's. What is it, exactly?

[rollick.livejournal.com]

Man, I keep forgetting that's not just an expansion pack. And I'll wait for a a positive review from someone I trust. I thought the "Settlers Of Cataan" two-person card game was monumentally dull.

[yendi]

I've checked it out, but the java can get a bit clunky on my Mac. I'm also just not a huge fan of online gaming -- half the fun of PR, Settlers, etc is playing with friends and chatting while drinking a beer and eating chips.

Re: hate doing this...

[yendi]

Fowlers. Basically, porn for grammar and usage snobs.

I like the third edition a lot more than other folks, but the second is still the most fun to browse.

[yendi]

I trust envoy, who commented elsewhere in this thread, so I may only have it as a mild desire now. There's always http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/8217 for a nice list of opinions.