Category: General

I just finished up a visit to the National Center for Women in Technology (NCWIT) Summit, and the photo you see are my three colleagues and I who all teach computer science at Western Oregon University.

While I learned much from the summit and speakers, most valuable were the discussions and forward progress the four of us made in our specific plans for improving our recruiting and retention of women at WOU.

We took advantage of a warm Saturday during our brief stay back in the northwest to meet halfway and do a hike with Jacob and Kaitlin to Packwood Lake near Mt Rainier. The trail was heavily used but still quiet. Lots of backpackers camped around the lake – looks like a nice intro trail.

What I’m Contemplating

• Free Range Kids Bill Signed in Utah – Odd that there needs to be a law for this but I can get behind the concept.
• The Game of Everything, Part 1: Making Civilization – Jacob shared this with me and it was a great read. I’m thinking about playing Civ more this summer.
• 5 Ancient Stoic Tactics for Modern Life – Great summary and some pragmatic tips on practicing the stoic behaviors.
• The 50 Best Fantasy Books of the 21st Century (So Far) – Always fun picking through lists like this.
• A Growing Cult of Millennials Is Obsessed With Early Retirement. This 72-Year-Old Is Their Unlikely Inspiration – I’m not a millenial, and I’m not obsessed, but agree with the sentiments here.
• The right answer might not be the best thing you can say – So simple but true.

What I’m Reading

• I listened to Fall of Giants and Winter of the World by Ken Follett. Average books but they did keep me engaged during my commutes. Not sure if I’ll read the final book of the trilogy.
• I read The Republic of Thieves, finishing the Gentleman Bastard series. I think the quality declined slightly with each book though enjoyed the series overall.
• Julie and I listened to The Litigators as we started our road trip and it was quite fun.
• I read Origin, the latest Dan Brown novel and it was better than expected.
• Our highlight of the last month was listening to Lonesome Dove. Superb writing and characters and we can’t wait to watch the classic made-for-TV mini series.

What I’m Playing

• Doug and I played Up Front before I left on our road trip. Fun as always; wish I owned this game.
• My first game at GMT West was Colonial Twilight: The French-Algerian War, 1954–62. I’m about to give up on this game. Not that I think it is a bad game; I just don’t grok it yet and don’t know if I will. I want to play one time solo this week (maybe today) before I put it on the sell/trade list.
• I tried out a new short Arnhem scenario of Holland ’44: Operation Market-Garden and think this will be the best way to play a short (5-ish hour) game. 15 turns and the 30 corps show up on turn 8 or so.
• I taught three newbies how to play Pax Renaissance at GMT West. I’m getting better at teaching the game but can’t say I’m figuring out how to play well. This will go to Keuka Lake with me this summer again.
• Played a four-player scenario of Advanced Squad Leader that was a lot of fun. Didn’t quite finish as we all had to break for dinner.
• I played D-Day Dice with Mark Johnson and two others at GMT West. This is a keeper in my collection and we successfully took Utah Beach.
• The new hotness at GMT West was Great War Commander on 2018–04–28 and this was the last game I played. It is Combat Commander: Europe tweaked for World War I. There will likely be some complaints about realism but I welcome the new scenarios and factions. Some fun artillery, tank, and air support cards as well.

We are back in Oregon working our way back home. The last two days had us exploring some redwood tree parks in northern California. I’m probably not the first to complain that is is hard to take a good redwood tree photo. At least this one will give you a sense of scale.

GMT Games hosts a long weekend gaming event at their warehouse in Hanford CA each spring and fall. This is my first visit and I’ve had a blast. Right now I’m watching a play of the soon-to-be released Fort Sumter, a Mark Herman design in the new “lunchtime” series.