Playing as myself

In 2008, Rio Grande Games released a non collectable card game called Dominion. It is a deck building game where a player uses treasures represented by cards to expand his Dominion by obtaining treasures, facilities, personnel, and lands which decide the winner mostly represented by cards that are added to the deck.

What I believe makes the game popular is the variety of the 10 kingdom cards that make up every game played with basic treasures and lands to acquire. The additional cards can be lands which give victory points, treasures which can allow you more purchasing ability and mostly actions which can allow you to draw more cards, give you treasure, improve the cards you have or attack opponents by forcing them to discard cards from their hand or by removing or giving them cards that make their deck worse. The 10 cards added to the game can be personally selected or randomized from the 25 choices in the original version. As 6 expansions have been created since the game debuted, there are now over 150 different kingdom cards to make up a game and there are ipod apps and a website that would allow you to randomize the cards based on what versions you have. There is also a website http://dominion.isotropic.org/ where someone with the nickname madmanOTL plays.

At Gencon Indy the new expansion Dark Ages premieres. The creator of the game has released previews of some of the cards that will be in it. When my daughter and I saw this, I did a spit take and my daughter burst out laughing.

There are some cards in the game which we call them something else. My daughter stated she will call this a "daddy".

The final contest

 One of the few things my father and I have an understanding is with horse racing. When I was a kid I would enjoy going with him and he did not usually mind having to pay an extra $2 for me to get in. To me handicapping horse racing is a study in applied math and I remember many times at the now torn down Sportsman's Park and the still operating Hawthorne Race Course next store.

Summer at Sportsman's was my favorite time as it was the big harness meet. We would go about 3 to 4 times a month and those nights in Cicero are now missed by me since the park closed.

In late 1986, my father's boss started to get involved with owning harness horses and he had moderate success. One day in May 1987 my dad come home from work excited. His boss with two others bought a potential 3 year old champ named Call Me Sir N (the N stood for New Zealand bred).

In late May of 1987, Call Me Sir in its first race went straight to the lead and won by 5 lengths and then the same way won three more coming within 1/5 sec of the 3 yr old track record of 1:55. Those races had purses (money given to the top 5 finishers of the race) starting at $8,000 and going to $10,000. The owners decided to enter the horse in the American National 3 year old pace (purse $250,000) against Jate Lobell, the best horse in the country. I looked on You Tube and there is a video of the race held on July 3, 1987.



Even if Call Me Sir did not have a difficult time gaining the lead in the race, it still would have not had a chance. Because the driver tried to win the race, the horse was exhausted by the top of the stretch and ended up 6th.

Here is a winner's circle picture taken exactly 24 years ago today in 1988 when the horse posted its best career winning time of 1:55. A significantly thinner contacts wearing 22 year old version of me is on the right next to my father.



Three Saturdays ago, I visited my father and could tell something was not right. He has deteriorated over the past 10 years but this was not good. We wanted to take him to the emergency room but he would not go until the last race from Arlington was shown on tv since he has bets made. When we got to the hospital and opened the door, he vomited his dinner and would not stop vomiting or hiccuping the next 4 hours. The next day my mom told my sisters and I what was happening: We knew he had a tumor removed from his back but we did not know he has cancer on his vocal chords and GI tract and he is too ill for any treatment. He was released 5 days later and has hospice care during the week at the house.

Knowing that him being involved with horse racing is what he looks forward to do, I offered to go to the race track on the following Saturday, July 28th, to make the bets for him. I also decided to make bets at Arlington and compare the results as one final father/son horse racing handicapping challenge.

The night before, I stopped at an off track betting place, got the next day's program and studied it grateful that I have bifocals and decided what to bet. I placed my bets Saturday morning at a place near my house and drove to my parents house to collect his money, make his bets at Hawthorne and then watch the races with him on the horse racing channel. Here is a chart of the results: (click on the pic for a closer view)

To summarize, I lost 8% fewer on my wagers than he did and would have done a little better had both of us just played $2 to win on every horse had in the bets.

I went again last Saturday and made bets for my father for Arlington, I played the harness card at the Meadowlands in New Jersey since it was the biggest day in harness racing. I won a couple of races while I was there and played others to watch on tv with him later. The last race I bet was the US Pacing Championship, a race that was held at Sportsman's Park and moved to New Jersey after Sportsman's closed.

dealing with idols

Tom Rockwell is a software engineer who lives in New Jersey with his wife and three kids. To fans of the Dr. Demento Show and those of nerdcore, he is known as Devo Spice formerly of the group called Sudden Death. He describes his act as if Weird Al Yankovic was red headed with a beard and does rap.

I first met him at the first sci-fi convention I attended in February, 2002. He was there with Dr Demento and the great Luke Ski. I found his act ok but was most impressed by his duet with Luke Ski of the song Peter Parker which ended up being the #1 song on the Dr. Demento show for 2002.

I saw him later that year performing at a Weird Al convention to the backs of most of the heads in the audience as they were in line to get an autograph and picture with Weird Al and his wife whom he married the previous year and in Indiana in September 2003 and was not impressed.

I became of fan of his music after an amazing performance at a con in April 2004 and have enjoyed his work since. He also had the number one song of the year on the Dr. Demento show in 2005 and in 2007 where he had the number 1,2 and 4 songs of the year while participating in #5 while Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" finished #6.

Three years ago, he saw a Tweet by @UncleLouie who is the representative of @TheFatboys, a hip hop group famous in the 80s and 90s whom Devo Spice (and the great Luke Ski) credit with helping inspire them to create music. Uncle Louie offered the musical services of the 2 remaining members of the group for money. Devo Spice inquired about the cost and found the $500 fee within reason and reserved 16 lines for use in a future song and paid in advance for it. He ended up releasing a video explaining what happened. In it, he made these 5 points:

1. In 2010 I paid Uncle Louie $500 to get Prince Markie Dee of The Fat Boys on a song.
2. Despite repeated promises Mark never sent me the verse.
3. Louie refused to refund me the money.
4. In July of 2012 I sued and won.
5. Instead of paying me Louie threatened me and called me a racist.

 What I saw in the video was how painful this situation has been to Devo Spice. This was done by a group that inspired him and in spite of his Dr Demento success, he was ignored and shunned by them.

I could see someone adding to the suit demanding extra money for the time spent, loss of sales by not having the song on the CD, libel, or even interest. Devo Spice decided to not seek that. When Googling "Devo Spice Fat Boys", the first 8 entries are 6 articles about this situation most including screenshots of the agreement, emails and the racist tweet, the video linked above, and the Fat Boys song Devo Spice and Luke Ski parodied as a tribute to their music.

When this info became public a few days ago, people were asked to tweet to @UncleLouie and @Thefatboys asking them to refund the money.. If you have the time, please do so.

Note: A week after posting this, Uncle Louis sent him an apology along with the $522 from the judgement.

Still out

Today, Hardcore Gaming Inc. addressed the rumor that the Misfit Demons was listed in the Frankfort Invitational draft:

HGI: We will confirm that the Misfit Demons are listed as drafting 9th in the Frankfort Invitational draft. However, that is a mistake. Apparently the ownership of the league along with other owners in other leagues did not believe our statement made last December that 2011 was the last year of the Misfit Demons franchise after 15 years of mostly successful operation.

(Steve) Bartman Memorial Stadium was leveled and coach Richard (Dick) Hertz was vaporized in what after an investigation was determined to be an accidental nuclear explosion. Even if there was even any consideration of fielding a team this season, we would have to start from scratch with a new stadium and coach.

HGI will only spend the 2012 season only working with other teams as a paid adviser. Details on the availability will be available soon.

Any questions?

Reporter: Is it going to be difficult to miss the season?

HGI: No. In spite of the Demons having their best performance in their 15 year existence, 2011 was a very difficult season for the ownership. Of the 16 Sundays last year, there were only 6 that did not involve leaving the home base sometime during the afternoon or even not being there at all which made following things difficult . Also the expansion of Thursday evening football has also made winning in fantasy football require even more time involvement.

R: Isn't there money to be made?

HGI: Yes, the Demons were profitable the last three years which involved three division titles and one league title. However when considering the time involvement, the money made per hour was the same as those who make Nike shoes in Asia.

R: Couldn't HGI just participate for fun and not make the time involvement? I know of one league where I won a title by doing nothing.

HGI: Congrats on your title. There is no way HGI would even consider not producing its best effort. In 2006, feeling guilty after winning division titles the previous two years, we purposely decided to tank the season. Half way through, that decision became regrettable. After collusion the following year prevented the team from making the playoffs though it was by far the highest scoring team in the league, HGI decided to take out its anger towards the league by dominating it.

Being violently ill during the 2008 draft put the team in a 0-5 hole. Since then the team has won 39 out of 51 regular season weeks even though over the past 5 seasons the Demons opponents have scored 278 more points (almost 4 per game) against the Demons than against other teams in the league.

R; Are you sure that the other teams in the league want the Demons to participate so they can experience the challenge of going against your yearly superior squads?

HGI: Doubtful. We believe the other teams have better scores vs the Demons because they know HGI will get on the case of those who do not put the effort into their squad. We are aware that if all the teams were as talented as the Demons, victory would be far more difficult but at least winning would be meaningful and not what it has been. The anger towards the league that drove the franchise over the past four seasons stopped making winning enjoyable early last season.

R; Couldn't the Demons find another league or create one?

HGI: At this time, we know of no leagues that would be worth our time or energy. The private ones we know are filled with teams and formats that are not to HGI's liking. Create or joining a public one with teams we do not know is dangerous since it could be filled with teams that could quit or collude especially if there was significant money involved.

Thank you for your time. No further questions.

naked to clock

Noticing a coworker was regularly arriving 15 minutes or more before their start time, I commented that 15 minutes before I want to punch in work, I am naked. Upon repeating that I have gotten the strange looks I occasionally get when I try to say something clever or insightful.

Of course having a 2.7 mile commute allows that to happen and over the years have developed a morning routine. Ideally, this is how it goes:

30 minutes (before I want to punch in): Out of bed, head to bathroom, turn on water in shower and use toilet.

28 minutes: Enter shower

20 minutes: Exit shower, flush toilet, brush teeth, shave.

15 minutes: Head downstairs, get dressed (clothes are ready from night before)

11 minutes: Pack food to take, get phone.

9 minutes: Exit house, get in car.

2 minutes: Park car at work.

Of course things don't always work like last Friday when I fell asleep on the couch, woke a couple hours later, went to bed shortly after 1AM, crawled into bed without noticing that I knocked the plug to my alarm clock loose causing it to reset so when I woke, I thought it was just after 4AM when it was 6.

Family Circus driving #10

Due to my financial situation, I am unable to go to Hunstville, AL for Deep South Con 50 this weekend which features musical performances by many talented artists and media guest of honor Dr. Demento whom I was hoping to thank in person for playing 5 songs that I had a cameo including one based on a parody idea I developed while in high school. Hopefully one of my friends will get him to autograph a record I sent with him.

On Thursday morning, while feeling sorry for myself at work instead of being in a car on the way to DSC, I got a phone call and had to leave ASAP to drive someone to the Elmhurst Hospital Emergency Room which was opened less than a year ago. This was the third time since September I had to go to that ER along with 2 trips to other ERs and trips to two other hospitals to see a newborn and visit my father who has had multiple surgical procedures over the past couple years. (Note: This trip to the ER fortunately turned out to be a false alarm and nothing serious)

While almost there, I heard a worried comment since I did not take the route directed by a sign. Having been to the Elmhurst Clinic over the past 15 years which the hospital was built next to, I realized that the way I take is faster especially considering that the ER was on the west side of the hospital. When having to take my kid to the ER in December in separate cars, I got there 3 minutes before my wife who followed the sign instead of the car.

While driving home with my wife, I tried explaining that the route she always takes home from the clinic or hospital is the exact opposite of the route I took to get there. She told me the route she tried to take one time.

Mad dog vs. Madman

Last Monday, I was at Lombard Commons Park playing disc golf. After finishing #3 (point A on the map), I heard a noise about 25 feet behind me. The person playing #3 had a large dog snapping at him (point B on the map).

I called out to the people watching a softball game involving 7 year old girls (point C on the map) thinking the dog was with one of them. The dog turned away from the person and came after me. Fortunately when I hit it in the face with my disc golf bag (which had about a dozen ones in it) it backed off.

At that time a woman (point D on the map) who was walking from the street that ended near where I was called out to the dog. It saw her then ran away with the woman walking after it. (arrows)

After playing the next three, I heard police sirens at the ball field at the other end of the park. They caught the dog in short center field (point E on the map) interrupting a different softball game played by 8-10 year old girls and had a police vehicle there.

While I was waiting to play #6 (point F on the map), the woman who was talking to the police pointed towards me and the police waved for me to come over by them. She was upset that I hit the dog with the disc golf bag even though I had seen the dog snap at another person then go towards me. The person who was behind me 15 minutes earlier confirmed my story and to my surprise and objection, the police let the woman go home with her dog