Posts from 2012
Epic Boardgaming
I've had some amazing boardgame sessions over the past two weeks that I'm eager to share. Earlier in December I hooked up with Yehuda (Jerusalem Israel) and...
Merry Christmas from the Brooks Family
So far it has been a wonderful family Christmas with much gift giving and cats rising and crashing on catnip. The morning started with an unusual early wak...
Online Learning
Jacob and I have both explored quite a few online college courses over the past year. His completion rate is better than mine. We started with Software Engi...
Philmont 2012 Summary
Here is a summary page with links to all of the detailed write-ups for Sherwood Troop 224's Philmont 2012 adventure with itinerary 34: Planning and getting ...
BGG.CON So Far
We are living in a time warp. New games to us are the games from last year, so by playing stuff that has held up we are avoiding stinkers. This is what Thurs...
Ora et Labora
Played the last-year released Rosenburg game last night. I like it more than Le Havre, though it feels similar. We had a hard time with language as we played...
To BGG.CON
Today I arrive at BGG.CON, the annual BoardGameGeek convention in Dallas. This is my (n-1)th convention, where n is the number of conventions they've held. I...
Philmont Equipment Details
Like most people (adults?) going to Philmont, Julie and I spent a lot of time exploring strategies and tactics for equipment. Much our equipment was close t...
Philmont Day 11 - Dean Heck to Base Camp
We did all survive the night in the haunted Dean Heck trail camp. Matthew's first words when he woke up: "I'M ALIVE!!" Kyle admitted that he was exhausted...
Philmont Day 10 - Elkhorn to Dean Heck
This is our last full day of hiking and program at Philmont. For breakfast, we had the hot skillet scramble. Texture a little odd, but still good and a nic...
Philmont Day 9 - Baldy Town to Elkhorn
With a final close-up look at Baldy and farewell to the Baldy Town kitten, our crew departed on a downhill descent to Pueblano where some spar pole climbing...
Philmont Day 8 - Baldy Climb
We departed camp with our light daypacks on at 6:45am to begin our Baldy ascent. We screamed up the mountain, passing four other crews along the way and re...
Philmont Day 7 - Baldy Skyline to Baldy Town
Leaving Baldy Skyline we had a choice -- swing by the Miranda camp for some program time, or high-tail it to Baldy Town to try and get an early slot for our...
Philmont Day 6 - Deer Lake Mesa to Baldy Skyline
On day 6 we departed Deer Lake Mesa at about 6:50am and began our gradual climb down towards the Cimarron River. We saw a buck on the way, keeping our deer...
Philmont Day 5 - Black Mountain Camp to Deer Lake Meadow
As I said before, day 4 was our last easy day. Day 5 would be a true test for our crew, and not in the ways we expected. The day opened with a steep ascen...
Philmont Day 4 - Agua Fria to Black Mountain
Day 4 would prove to be our last "easy" day as we casually sauntered from Agua Fria to our first food resupply at Phillips Junction. We departed our campsi...
Philmont Day 3 - Carson Meadows to Agua Fria
We woke up about 6am at our Carson Meadows camp and started our hike towards Fish Camp at about 7:30am. We signed out at the cabin and started our relative...
Philmont 2012 - Day 2 at Abreu and Carson Meadows
Julie and I awoke by 7am to warm light and a calm meadow. Our night-time routine was like this: Julie and Chris get into tent and change into sleeping clo...
Philmont 2012 - Day 1
We did some final map review and training with ranger Nate in the welcome center while we awaited our bus. I had a near disaster as I mistakenly locked my ...
Philmont 2012 - Arriving at Philmont
On July 24, crews 724-G arrived at Philmont base camp headquarters at about 10:50am. The Ramblin Express bus had picked us up at the hotel at about 6:45am ...
Philmont 2012 - Planning and Getting There
This is the first in a series of posts about our trip to Philmont Scout Ranch this summer. We had an amazing trip -- a family adventure to remember and one ...
A Day at Elitch Gardens
We spent the day at Elitch Gardens, a decent mid-sized amusement and water park in downtown Denver. Knowing the heat would bear down on us in the afternoon ...
Off to Philmont
We are headed to Denver today to start our 95 mile backpacking adventure to Philmont. Two days in Denver then we hop on a charter bus down to Cimarron NM.
Backpacking the Four Lakes Trail
Last month we did our last training hike in preparation for 10 days / 96 miles at Philmont starting in late July. We had a small crowd this time -- only fiv...
Backpacking the Eagle Creek - Benson Loop
Last weekend about 19 of us from from Troop 224 in Sherwood, OR ventured to the Columbia Gorge for an overnight backpacking trip on the Eagle Creek / Benson ...
Orienteering at Mt Tabor
I love maps and navigation and have enjoyed teaching orienteering to Boy Scouts in the past. A few summers ago I even took over an orienteering merit badge ...
The Dice Tower 2011 Gaming Awards
The Dice Tower recently published their nominations for the 2011 Dice Tower gaming awards. They recently lamented about how there aren't any luminaries talki...
Recent Gaming: A Few Acres of Snow, Filthy Rich, and Power Grid: the First Sparks
I've had some great, though infrequent, gaming sessions lately. Ken and I were able to play back-to-back games of A Few Acres of Snow, the deck building wa...
Spring Break in DC, NYC, and college visits
We took a family trip to the east coast -- Washington DC and New York City -- for a mix of tourism and college visits. The weather started off ideal - 70s ...
Gaming with Joe Huber
We hosted noteworthy gamer Joe Huber at Eric's home this week for a special Thursday night gaming session. Joe was in town on business and I responded to h...
Five and Dime Report for 2011
I surpassed my five and dime totals from 2010 and met my prediction that Thunderstone would make my nickel list in 2011. Here is the breakdown: Dimes (games...
Exploring Portland on the 4T Trail
Julie and I spent a fabulous afternoon yesterday traveling the 4T Trail here in Portland. 4T stands for Trail, Tram, Trolley, and Train and having never rid...