You may think I’m being inconsiderate, but it seems that the title of this post was actually uttered on radio here in the US. Memorial day, a federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May commemorates the dead of the US civil war and further deaths of US servicepeople. However, due to the long weekend timing at the beginning of summer, it has become an important time for outing, picnics, and other fun activities.
In contrast, memorial day in Israel is not a holiday, and it is a day before independence day. To ensure the correct atmosphere, all entertainment venues are closed by law, and the TV and radio screen sad films and documentaries, in addition to live broadcasts the official ceremonies.
Back to the US, I spent this year’s memorial day weekend at KublaCon, the annual bay area gaming convention. The Convention features all types of non-computer gaming, from miniatures to LARPs, boardgames to RPGs. The convention lasted four days Friday-Monday, but I decided not to go on Monday. It was held in a hotel near San Francisco airport. I registered onsite for $50, and got a badge and a wristband. I spent most of the weekend playing dozens for boardgames with many different players of all ages from 8 to 80.
On the second day of the conference I registered for a Settlers of Catan tournament. After winning two of three games, I broke to the semi-finals that were held the next day. In the semis, in a very close game, I came in tied for second with 9 points (out of 10). Later that day, I have then spent many more hours playing all kinds of boardgames with people I could find, including a very smart 11 year old girl, who managed to play very well and come in second in several games in a row, until finally winning a game of Tsuro. It turns out that her father, who joined us for some of the games, owns a game store nearby and can get me good deals on games.
All in all, KublaCon was lots of fun and well worth the money. Now I have memorial day to rest before going back to work tomorrow.
May 27th, 2008 at 05:09
Posted by
epsalon |
American Culture, Gaming |
2 comments
Yesterday I woke up with a cold, for not apparent reason. Had a work meeting with my advisor and told him about my sinister plans to go home. He immediately approved my decision. On my way back to the office, I peeked into the AI lab meeting room, where I saw a familiar face, someone the building was named after, the chairman of the most hated company in the world — Bill Gates. I didn’t stay much longer, as his bodyguards told me to move along, but still he really was there.
Later, I placed some orders for people who wanted me to bring them stuff, and went to buy a thermos (so I can have some tea) and then to the Tuesday games group. In the games group, we played my copy of Container. Then it started raining. So, someone with an umbrella helped me walk to the car without getting my game wet, and I put it in the trunk, and closed the trunk…. with my keys inside. Luckily, someone else from the game group was generous enough to drive me home and back so I can get my spare keys and open the car.
When I finally reached home again, I found a pleasant surprise. My laptop was back from repair. I did not expect it to return so soon. It was picked up on Saturday, repaired on Monday, shipped the same day, and arrived back on Tuesday. Not bad, especially given the fact that it was flown to Memphis for the repair.
So, now I’m home, with a working laptop, and a cold…
February 20th, 2008 at 20:56
Posted by
epsalon |
Gaming, Health, Tech stuff, USA |
2 comments
This post was written on Christmas day - December 25th. Ever since Thanksgiving there are decorated Xmas trees everywhere, the radio plays Xmas music, and everyone is away with family.
As everyone is with family, most of the boardgame events were canceled, and Stanford is almost empty.
The only ones still around are the Jewish community. A person I met in a conference invited me to meet some of his friends at an Israeli restaurant on the Sunday before Xmas. It turns out that the person who operates the largest Jewish site in the bay has the same name as my brother - Tomer Altman.
They have invited me to join them to a Chinese restaurant on Xmas day. They forgot to mention that the meal is strictly veggie. Luckily, I got some veg-less noodles so I could eat. The whole occasion was long and boring. I left as soon as the meal was over.
Earlier that day I realized that most restaurants are closed on Xmas day. After trying two “24 hr” McDonald’s branches which were closed, I settled for Mediterranean food in a Greek restaurant I found open on University Ave.
That concludes my Xmas tales. This weekend will be boardgames again.
December 28th, 2007 at 07:58
Posted by
epsalon |
American Culture, Gaming |
3 comments
Yesterday night, I have felt an earthquake of magnitude 5.6 on the Richter scale. At the time, I was playing boardgames in Mountain View and all the tables started moving slightly and then stopped. No damage or injury was caused by the earthquake, but immediately people called their friends on cellphones to check on them and to tell them they are OK. I didn’t call because it was 4 AM in Israel. I decided I’ll blog on it when I get home. When I did get home, I started writing this post, but I fell asleep due to jet lag.
In other news, I’m giving a talk today at the group lunch as the person who was planned to talk today had to cancel. I’m giving the same talk I gave at Dagstuhl, so it should be easy for me.
October 31st, 2007 at 14:58
Posted by
epsalon |
Daily Life, Gaming, Academia |
4 comments
On Monday I spent my evening playing board games at Yahoo! If you are thinking I spent my time staring at a computer screen, then you are wrong. I drove to Yahoo’s campus in Sunnyvale (about 16 minutes from my house) and joined a meeting of South Bay Boardgamers, a group that meets every Monday on Yahoo!’s campus to play board games.
Today I played Vegas Showdown and Clippers. The former has (surprisingly enough) nothing to do with gambling (but a lot to do with bidding), and the latter features ships of different colors that do not belong to any of the players. Both games were interesting and full of strategy (Clippers more so).
This is the second time I attend such a meeting (last time it was Silicon Valley Boardgamers). In both times I’ve learned new games I’ve never seen before. I’m enjoying myself very much here.
October 17th, 2007 at 08:22
Posted by
epsalon |
Gaming, USA |
no comments
