Posts from 2018
Holiday In Oklahoma City
We’ve had an amazing few weeks in Oklahoma City for Christmas, birthdays, and soon-to-be new year. We managed a group photo during “peak occupancy”, only Ka...
Band Of Brothers Teaching Session
Teaching various family members how to play this light but very engaging tactical wargame.
18Lilliput
Playing the “18xx card game” with Jacob and Geoff and it is a big hit. So much scarcity of actions makes the game seem very tight - not enough time to do wh...
Arcadia Lake Take 2 - Mountain Biking
Fun six mile ride today with Andy. Bike issues (gear kept disengaging) made things challenging but weather was perfect and trail well maintained.
Arcadia Lake Trail Run
Julie and I are exploring good trails to run here in Oklahoma City and picked a great one today. Started at the Arcadia Lake project office and went west on...
Wednesday What’s Up
Pull up a chair and hang with me a while. This is a long one. Where I’m Traveling Right now I’m living and working in Oklahoma City, but over T...
New party game: Just One
Played a just-released cooperative party game last night called Just One. It is in the "more of an activity than a game category" but everyone had a blas...
Army March On For Army Navy 2018
Matthew and his company just started on.
USS New Jersey
Day before Patriot Games activities as we get ready for Army Navy.
Gators At Viera Wetlands
Doing our annual walk around the wetlands here in Brevard County. Many Gators and of course birds. Took this shot through my monocular.
Kayaking Off Marathon Key
Julie and I spent a sundrenched day kayaking around Sombrero Beach on Marathon Key. Tons of bird sightings: multiple heron and egret species, kingfisher, os...
Turtle Hospital at Marathon Key
Our first stop exploring the keys today is to the Turtle Hospital. Great mission and stories about their rescues and subsequent releases. A few permanent r...
Fantasy A&R: My 12 track White Album
I’m a regular listener to the Celebration Rock podcast, and a big fan of Steven Hyden’s writing. Their latest episode presented a fun what-if exercise: what ...
Wednesday What’s Up
What I’m Coaching Wrapped up what might be my final season coaching a football team. I stepped in as an assistant (offensive coordinator) for a team after b...
Bottoscon
I’m settled near Vancouver BC for a wargaming convention. Hosted by Rob Bottos, hence the name.
Natural Sculptures at Orenco Woods Nature Park
These are so cool -- built by volunteers and will last 2-4 years.
Kite Surfing In Columbia Gorge
At least that’s what I think it’s called. We saw a wide range of implements, including tiny foil-style boards that stayed out of water (think previous Ameri...
Paulina Lake From Paulina Peak
Enjoying some quality time around Bend.
Wednesday What’s Up
What I’m Reading I listened to The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War and found it to be educational and entertaining. Very much an indictment of Ma...
Shoshone Falls Idaho
Been a while since I visited here. Maybe 21 years? Dry but still beautiful.
West Point Ring Run for Class of 2019
Julie and I were at West Point last weekend to join Matthew for Ring Weekend - where the class of 2019 gets their class rings. Did you know the concept of ...
Wednesday What’s Up
What I’m Contemplating The 4 questions you should stop asking during your one-on-one meetings – I like this list! I was always looking for ways...
Krooked Tusker Distillery At Keuka Lake
I’m very impressed with the spirits coming from Krooked Tusker - mostly clear but their unaged whiskeys are not bad. I’m here with Mom and Julie now, bought...
Wednesday What’s Up
What I’m Contemplating No single birthplace of mankind, say scientists – Sounds like we still have a lot to learn and uncover around the origin of our speci...
Thursday Things
What I’m Contemplating Rands Information Practices – Great tips on managing your information diet as well as stealing precious seconds (that add up to minut...
Hazard Pay
Look at the dude up in the tree.
Thursday Things
What I’m Contemplating Visitor’s Guide to Summer Fun at Keuka Lake – Julie did a big update to help folks plan for visiting us at the lake! Say the Hard Th...
E Scow Sailing
Julie and I are having fun this summer as ad hoc crew on an E Scow racing sailboat at the Keuka Yacht Club.
Wednesday What’s Up
What I’m Contemplating A Primer on Military Rank and Insignia – As an Air Force guy, I still find myself making mistakes as I see (mainly enlisted) Army fol...
Congrats USMA Class Of 2018
Julie and I attended the graduation of West Point class of 2018, scouting for Matthew’s graduation next year. Very hot today - sunny and high 80s. Lots of g...
Wednesday What’s Up
What I’m Reading Julie and I listened to Riders of the Purple Sage while roaming around southern Utah, a perfect place to take in this classic. I used to o...
NCWIT Summit 2018
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 ...
Hike at Packwood Lake
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 ...
Wednesday What’s Up
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 Everyth...
Boy Scout Tree at Jedediah Smith State Park
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 fir...
Hanging Out at GMT West
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’...
Disneyland
We did a different sort of hike yesterday, and interestingly it was a lot harder on my feet than any of our prior hikes. We had a blast and successfully use...
Teutonia Peak Trail in Mojave National Preserve
On our way from Vegas to Anaheim we stopped for a 4 mile hike not far off I-15 in the Mojave. Teutonia Peak trail has the densest known concentration of Jo...
Red Hills Desert Garden in St. George
We took a break from hiking (82 miles in the prior 7 days) and explored St. George Utah and saw a movie yesterday (Chappaquiddick). The highlight was visit...
Zion: Angels Landing
We arrived at the park at 6:45am and caught the first shuttle, allowing us to be two of the first 10 people to the summit. Not nearly as difficult as the c...
Zion: East Rim to Observation Point
We covered about 15 miles early yesterday morning, starting with a private shuttle drop at the East entrance and finishing at Observation Point. It took us...
Red Canyon near Bryce
I forgot to mention we spent Monday afternoon at the nearby Red Canyon district of the Dixie National Forest. We expected some second rate trails but were ...
Zion from the Emerald Pools
We made good time getting to Zion, and after all the warnings of crowds we were surprised with a painless parking and tour bus experience. I think late Apr...
Sunrise at Bryce
We woke up this morning to snow on the ground and 24 deg F temperatures at 6:15am. Didn’t stop us from enjoying a clear sunrise at Sunrise Point. Within fi...
Bryce Amphitheatre from Inspiration Point
Weather is colder and blustery this morning but we took a scenic drive to the south end of Bryce and worked our way back north. Some day I’d like to backpa...
Bryce Canyon Through the Portal
One of a few nice shots I got today during my first ever visit to Bryce Canyon National Park. Weather is turning cold and windy but we had some clearish sk...
Strolling Through the Escalante River
After climbing up to see the hundred hands pictographs Julie and I took a nice cool stroll along and in the Escalante River.
Another Slot Canyon in Escalante
Julie and I ventured off on our own and did a secluded slot canyon off Hole-in-the-rock road. Not terribly technically challenging but super narrow. Plus t...
Exploring the Slot Canyons of Escalante
Yesterday we hired a guide for some training and exploration of the magnificent slot canyons of the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument. We hiked...
Backpacking Halls Creek Narrows
Tuesday through Thursday this week we dropped into Halls Creek canyon along the Capitol Reef Waterpocket Fold. We hiked in the first day to setup camp, the...
Capitol Reef: Hickman Bridge and Rim Overlook
We started our exploration of Capitol Reef National Park with a vertical climb to get the lay of the land. The park is named after two distinct features: a...
Sunset at Capitol Reef National Park
Before exploring the park proper we made a stop at sunset point on our way back from dinner in Torrey. We are excited to spend the next day hiking and wand...
Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon
While hanging around Hanksville and Goblin Valley, Julie and I kept hearing about a fun and easy slot canyon nearby. So we delayed our exploration of Capit...
Natural Bridges National Monument: Owachomo Bridge
We did a quick dash through Natural Bridges National Monument and hiked to a couple of the bridges. This was a convenient stop on our drive from Cedar Mesa...
Todie Canyon Ruins
It’s hard to relate just how high we had to climb and scramble to reach these “unlisted” ruins. We estimated we were about 500 feet above the canyon floor ...
Grand Gulch: Junction Ruins
This is the first ruin we explored, at the intersection of Kane and Grand Gulches.
The Hearty Desert Juniper
We’ve been stepping up our desert plant identification but remain infatuated with the ultra common desert juniper. We love the gnarled roots and trunks, an...
Sunrise At Dead Horse Point
We arrived at the Utah State Park Dead Horse Point before sunrise to hike the east then west rim of this spectacular mesa peninsula. This park is sandwiche...
Bonus Find: Dinosaur Tracks!
Thursday night Julie and I took the Crosstrek out on the 4x4 road that connects our campground to the Arches NP and came across an exciting find: preserved...
Delicate Arch
<img src=https://chrisbrooks.org/assets/2018/03/delicate-arch-with-crowd.jpg height="600" width="800"/>
Our Campsite Near Arches
It looks like we have more solitude than we actually had. Still a beautiful sunset and easy access to Arches. And free, because this is BLM dispersed campi...
Bighorn Sheep
I messed up and deleted this post. Now it is back. We didn’t see any antelope or bighorn sheep inside the Sheldon NWR, but I spotted these two males on a ...
Salt Lake City
We visited Temple Square and toured the church museum and visitor’s center. Everybody was so friendly!
Thousand Creek Gorge, Sheldon NWR
As we crossed the northern tier of Nevada along Hwy 140 we stopped by the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge and did a couple of short hikes. Also tested the...
Lakeview Oregon
20deg F but dry! Stayed at a pleasant motel last night and today we head for the Utah / Nevada state line. We will spend some time at the Sheldon National ...
Hitting the Road
Julie and I are off on our next big adventure. I’m hanging out in a McDonald’s in Grants Pass, Oregon while Julie visits and plays games with an old friend. ...
Thursday Things
What I’m Contemplating Might be our last visit from Matthew in a while! He and roommate Chris were in town for spring break, and we tried to forecast when ...
Teaching ASL To Matthew And Chris
Allen and I are taking them to school today, playing the classic Gavin Take scenario.
Why I Left Evernote for a Bear
One of the most important components of my productivity environment is my reference system: where I can dump just about anything for future use on projects, ...
Lanterns In The Attic
Playing Lanterns with Julie in the Attic bar at Salishan. She’s not happy with my awesome plays.
Kicking At The Beach
Matthew and Chris getting some air at Pacific City.
Silhouette At Pacific City
This just happened! Hanging at Pacific City with Julie, Matthew, and his college friend Chris.
The Metagame of Advanced Squad Leader
I’m finally organizing my collection of ASL, which is vast but nowhere near complete. Of course I changed strategies mid course but I love where I’ve landed...
Thursday Things
What I’m Contemplating Why I stopped using roadmaps and switched to GIST instead – “Over the years I created my fair share of product strategies, roadmaps ...
Game Week Begins!
Julie and Matt at our wine tasting stop at Dobbes.
I’ve Seen a Lot of Movies This Past Month
Julie and I jumped on the MoviePass bandwagon last month and purchased two annual passes through Costco for $90 each. What is MoviePass? It is a monthly (or...
Wednesday What’s Up
What I’m Contemplating Steve Jobs Knew How to Write an Email. Here’s How He Did It – A great decomposition of an email that Jobs wrote. Much to learn from t...
75+ Books Ursula K. Le Guin Recommended
Danika Ellis: Here are more than 75 of them: books she mentioned in interviews, or wrote about on her blog, or gave to the Strand for her “authors bookshelf,...
Thursday Things
What I’m Contemplating “The least-worst idea we had”—The creation of the Age of Empires empire – Inspired me to get some similar RTS games installed on my i...
South Pacific: Breaking the Bismarck Barrier
Chuck and I planned to spend a holiday Monday playing some wargame, and knowing that I’d be playing the full Empire of the Sun at an upcoming game conven...
Defiant Russia
I played the light wargame Defiant Russia over the weekend, solo, and have some commentary to share. I landed this copy about a year ago off a prize table ...
Wednesday What’s Up
What I’m Contemplating Mark Zuckerberg, let Facebook rejoin the open web – Continuing the dialog on Facebook openness, Dave Winer points out only one of the...
Thursday Things
What I’m Playing Just finished an around-the-USA travel in December (NY, Philadelphia, Florida, and Las Vegas) and played quite a few games. Here’s a recap. ...