First week of August

Lots of stuff going on this week. I thought I'd smash them all into one post:

1) Soccer started! We had our first practice on Tuesday. LilKat2's team was first, followed immediately by LilKat1. You know what? Running 2 soccer practices back-to-back takes a lot out of you! Especially when it's hot. The dinner schedule on soccer nights is a little crazy, we end up eating in shifts. But it was a lot of fun. We have our second practice today. I think it's going to be hot again, so I'm going to break out the dribble-the-ball-quickly-to-the-other-side-before-I-pummel-you-with-my-water-squirter game.

2) Got some free money at Costco yesterday! Mrs. BigKat and I had our weekly date night last night, and after we ate, we ended up at Costco (I know, Costco doesn't sound like a great date night, but we actually really enjoy walking around a store with no children. A lot). Earlier this summer, we bought a new tv. It's a nice tv, but just a shade too big for the space that we put it in. Mrs. BigKat wanted to see the tv that was a size smaller. We went to the tv section to take a look, and we noticed that our current tv was listed with a $100 rebate. After we were done shopping, I went to the customer service desk to find out if I could get the rebate for my earlier purchase. The lady said that it would be fine, but only if I bought my tv in the last 30 days. We went home, and I checked my receipt. 30 days! Perfect...no wait...there's 31 days in July...oops! 31 days! Not so perfect! I went back to Costco and saw the same lady and asked if it was ok even though I bought the tv 31 days ago. She asked her manager, and he said it was fine. Woo hoo! She handed me a $100 and off I went. Free money!

3) So last week, I ordered a big pile of games. Well, it turns out that the place I ordered from ran out of games, so they canceled my order. Which actually worked out nice because it saved me a lot of money! To celebrate my good fortune, I ordered a different big pile of games from Boards and Bits, one of my very favorite places to buy games. Here's what I got:

1. Taluva - A cool tile laying game where you build up a little island with volcanoes and stuff.
2. Ubongo das Duell - Another game in the Ubongo series. It's a puzzle game where you have to figure out the right way to fit these tetris-like pieces together. But this version is really hard! It uses crazy, monstrous, misfigured tetris pieces! And there's lots of them!
3. Roma - I've been wanting this for a while, but I've read that a new version was going to come out soon. Well, I couldn't take it any longer and just bought the old version. It's a 2 player card game that uses dice in an interesting way. Looks like a lot of fun.
4. Thebes - I got this mainly for game nights with my mom. She doesn't like it that I win so much, so I thought this would be a great game for us because it adds in a bit of a luck factor. It's an archeology game, where you travel to various places around the world in search of ancient artifacts. Part of the skill of the game involves doing your research so that you have the best chance to find something good. But in the end, even if you've done your homework, it's always possible that all you find is a big pile of dirt. This one looks like a very well made game, and I can't wait to try it out.
5. Scripts and Scribes - This game was the equivalent of standing in line at the grocery store, seeing a Whatchamacallit in the candy bin, and buying it even though you're not sure what it is, but it just looks kind of tasty. I hadn't heard of this game before, and I just saw it on the Boards and Bits website as I was about to check out. I researched it a bit and it looked pretty good. A lot of comparisons to For Sale, another game I like quite a bit. Always nice to have a game that you can play in just 10 or 20 minutes when you don't have time for a big game.
6. Mykerinos - We actually got to play this last night. What a great game! Another archeology game, although the theme doesn't seem as quite as important as in Thebes. It's really more of an abstract puzzle type game. You place cubes down on the excavation sites and try to control areas while blocking everyone else out. If you win a region, you get a card, which not only helps your score, but gives you special abilities in later rounds. Pretty simple, right? Well, there's a whole seperate component that you need to keep in mind: the museum. When you win a region, you have a choice of collecting a card, or getting a spot in the museum. Ignore the museum and your cards will not be worth that much at the end of the game. Focus too much on the museum and you won't have enough cards to gain control of the board. Also, you need to keep in mind when to save your resources for later rounds, and when to get as much as you can during the current round. This was really a fun game. Even as we were getting ready for bed, I kept muttering 'What a fun game!' It's funny, because the game itself it really small. The board is tiny, the pieces are tiny, the box is tiny. But the game itself is quite substantial. This one is one of my new favorites. The only problem with this game is that I don't know how to pronounce the name correctly...

4) My Friend Who Lies (MFWL) is getting married tomorrow. The wedding is at the beach. I'm taking the boys with me. They're very excited. This will be their first time at the beach ever! They've been wanting to go to a beach for so long.

5) My computer has been broken in one form or another for the past 2 weeks (ranging from 'Can't start SQL Server' to 'Can't run Windows in Safe Mode' to 'Randomly shutting down at some point during the day'). 3 video cards, 2 motherboards, 2 lcd's, a power supply and about 16 hours on the phone with tech support later, everything seems to be working fine again. Thank goodness!

50 Questions

My friend Tara posted this yesterday. It looked fun, so I thought I'd try it out to. Here you go...

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:45am. I was able to fit some reading and a jog in before getting to work.
2. Diamonds or Pearls? Hmmm…sounds like a girl question…maybe I need the boy version of this list. I’ll make up my own substitute boy question: The Great Escape or the Dirty Dozen? The Great Escape
3. What was the last film you saw at a theater? Get Smart. Before that, I think you have to go back to X-Men 2 (we don't get to theatres very often).
4. What are your favorite websites? Boardgamegeek.com for game info. ESPN.com, Fast Break (Warriors Fan Weblog), True Hoop for sports. All my friends weblogs. Boards and Bits and Fairplay Games for buying stuff.
5. What did you have for breakfast? My 'Breakfast Drink'. Fruit blended with milk and juice. Same thing I have every day for breakfast. 
6. What is your middle name? Same as my dad's dad.
7. Favorite cuisine? hmmmm...tough one...I'd say anything done really well (that doesn't have fish in it)
8. What food do you dislike? Seafood
9. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Well, the song that I start with every time I go running is the 2007-8 GS Warriors introduction song (it's called 'Game Time'). But several of its lyrics are quickly becoming outdated (or have a very good chance of being outdated in the near future):
   • 'We got Matt Barnes, the dude with the tatoos. You wanna score on him? I think it's bad news.'
   • 'We're playing fearless, like Mikael Pietrus. And it's time for the whole league to hear us.'
   • 'Let's take it to the paint with Al Harrington, 4 quarters of play until the game is won.'
   • 'We're the Warriors, that's what the jerseys do say. We stay above the rim like Azibuike'
   • And of course...'We got Baron Davis, my girlfriend's favorite. And when he shoots you better believe he makes it'
   • This song also has a line that goes 'We got Monta Ellis with the no-look pass to Andris Biedrins shooting off the glass.' But whenever I hear that line, my brain automatically thinks 'We got Monta Ellis on the mean guitar. And a rap by little ole' me Lamar.
10. Favorite scripture verse? Matthew 6:28-30 -

    And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

    And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

    Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

    I normally don't read the King James version, but that's what Sidney Portier used when he read this in 'Lillies of the Field'

11. Favorite lunch?  Not sure...something with chips probably. Actually, a really good hamburger with fries. Leftover pizza is also good (as long as you heat it up this way!)
12. What is your biggest pet peeve? Probably when people take games too seriously. It's a game! Have fun with it! Applies to sports games as well as boardgames.
13. Favorite past-time? Boardgames, basketball, cooking, orienteering
14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Rome
15. Who is your favorite worship singer(s)? I don't know if I can actually name any. I don't listen to music a whole lot. I guess I'll go with whoever's on the radio singing any of my favorite hymns. Actually, I take that back. I'm going to go with Jana Alayra. We do her songs a lot in Sunday School.
16. When and how did you begin your relationship with Christ? New Year's Day 1998. Kind of the culmination of a year's worth of questioning, searching, studying, praying.
17. What is your favorite color? Blue
18. To where would you retire? I don't plan on ever moving again, so I'll say 'right here'.
19. What was your most memorable birthday? 18th. It was in high school and my birthday was on the same day as the state qualifier track meet. The week before, I had performed badly at the sectionals, so I didn't make the state qualifier. I was pretty mad about it the whole day. That night, a bunch of my friends threw a surprise party for me that really cheered me up.
20. Favorite sports to watch? Football, Warriors basketball, NCAA basketball tournament, Summer Olympics, Major golf tournaments when Tiger's playing.
21. Favorite book of the Bible? Probably whatever I'm currently studying (which would be Acts right now).
22. If you could witness any Old Testament story, what would it be? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth...
23. Favorite Gospel? Mark, I guess. Just because I've studied it the most. 
24. Goal you have for yourself? Finish my Sunday School planning for the Fall!
25. When is your birthday? May
26. How many weddings have you been in, including your own? 4, I think.
27. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night. I keep telling myself I should go to sleep sooner, but it never works out.
28. What is your shoe size? 12
29. Pets? 5 cats. 2 fish. And another cat outside that isn't our cat but just likes to think he is.
30. What did you want to be when you were little? NFL player. 
31. Who do you think prayed for you to accept Christ? I have no idea. Maybe even a bunch of people that I don't even know. Before I became a Christian, I was looking at a bunch of different religions. I wanted to find out more about Christianity, so I looked through the yellow pages and picked a church. I called them and made an appointment with the pastor so I could ask him a bunch of questions. We did this for many weeks in a row. I didn't know it, but he ended up talking about our conversations in a few of his sermons.
32. What is your favorite candy? Interesting Japanese candies.
33. What is your favorite plant or flower? Probably the shogetsu flowering cherry tree in our back yard. Although I really like our apple trees because we get to eat stuff from them.
34. What day on the calendar are you looking forward to? Beginning of August - Soccer season starts! I'm looking forward to it in a 'Woo-Hoo! Soccer!' kind of way, but also a 'I'm coaching 2 soccer teams?!?! Am I crazy?!?!' kind of way as well.
35. Where is the furthest you have been from home? Hong Kong, I think.
36. A small thing you really enjoy? Going to the driving range at lunch time, drinking Kool-Aid, hearing the UPS guy drive up to the house when I'm expecting a shipment of boardgames, coloring with my Sunday School kids and finding out how their week was, when I hear my boys talk about how much they love each other.
37. What is your favorite book? The Bible, 'He is There and He is not Silent' by Francis Schaeffer, The 'Clementine' series by Sara Pennypacker (great books to read with your kids. You'll be laughing out loud while reading them), the Matthias Media Interactive Bible Study series, Boundaries with Kids,  'Church History in Plain Language' by Bruce L. Shelley. I could probably find a few more if I looked at my book shelf. Oh, I know one more: The Jesus Storybook Bible I'm not a big fan of storybook Bibles, but this one does a good job of relating all parts of the Bible back to God's plan of salvation. If you're going to get a storybook Bible, this is the one to get.
38. What are you most proud of?  My kids. They're great.
39. What is your biggest surprise in parenting? How much I enjoy it. I always knew I'd enjoy being a parent, but I didn't know exactly how much I'd like it. Even when they're being super-duper difficult, I love being a parent.
40. What makes you cringe? A roomfull of kids at a birthday party rubbing their hands on the balloons to make sqeaky noises.
41. If you could do anything, what would you do? Dunk a basketball. Or pole vault. I miss pole vaulting.
42. Where have you been that you will visit again? Hopefully Washington DC.
43. Where have you been that you will never visit again? In all likelihood, Val's Burgers. I went there a lot growing up, but we know so few people in the Bay Area, that I don't see any reason for us to go down there again. Maybe when the kids are in college, me and Mrs. BigKat will take a road trip and stop by. So I guess I shouldn't say never. I change my answer to New Jersey.
44. What is your favorite movie? Lord of the Rings
45. Favorite female Bible character? I don't know if I have one. I'll go with the one that we named PrincessKat after.
46. Favorite male Bible character? Jesus.
47. When you look at the world, what do you see? My backyard. It's coming along quite nicely!
48. Cats or dogs? My cats, other people's dogs.
49. Other than seeing Christ, what excites you the most about Heaven? One of my Sunday School kids was killed in a car accident a couple of years ago. I still miss her quite a bit, and I look forward to seeing her again.
50. Something people probably don’t know about you? I use one of those foofy sponge things when I take a shower. Yeah, yeah, I know, they're foofy and they're for girls. But I've been using shower gel and was noticing that I was using a lot of it. The foofy sponge thing dramatically reduces the amount of soap use per shower. It was actually a very agonizing decision for me. I'm a pretty frugal person so seeing all that wasted soap was not easy. But at the same time, I really did not want to buy foofy sponge thing. In the end, my cheapness won out and I bought the foofy sponge. I bought it in the boys section in a boy color (dark grey). But it didn't really help me feel better at all about the whole thing.