Out of The PIT

Late last week I got an invite to try out a room escape near our place at the Riddle Room with DeeL and Stonaday. I invited Laz and Stonaday invited his cousin and the five of us tackled the Castle, the hardest room there, to see if we could escape. It took us 29:53 to get out, which is no so impressive when we had a total of 50 minutes to get out. I'm sure we could have gotten out earlier, but it was not as challenging as I would have liked. The success rate was 40% so I was expecting to get out with ease anyway considering our talent pool. Afterward, we were given a free hour to play with any of the board games in the room, so we tried out Splendor, which was quite a simple, yet strategically interesting game. I am sure we all would have played more than one game, but it was already way past my bedtime so we all went home. Stonaday is pumped to do more and I'm sure there will be a next time. He also asked if we were interested in running our own board game cafe.. *rub...

Who knows what the question is, but at least I've finally reached the answer.

I went on the Ride for Heart yesterday. I was kind of not planning to go as there was not a lot of incentive for me to take part, but since we had a couple of neophytes who wanted to try this year, I decided the week before to raise the requisite funds to participate. Long range weather forecasts predicted rain during the weekend, with Sinday morning smack dab in the middle of the rain grouping. It was looking quite likely that the ride was going to be a wet one. As the day approached, it looked more likely to be wet and cool, with temperatures in the low-mid teens and moderate to light winds. This combination was the same as two years prior where the ride was so wet and cold I never felt warm during the ride, and I had to keep moving to prevent my body from falling into a state of hypothermia. Well, on top of all of this weather, I decided to ride down to the starting line from my place instead of driving or taking transit. The former was cumbersome and not any faster, while the l...

MJNL and I have started house hunting. We have yet to find a three bedroom house on the east end (this includes Scarborough) for less than $649000. In fact, all of the houses that we saw that were sold were sold way over asking. None under a million. A million dollars for a tiny three bedroom house. Not even detached! Madness! I am glad we don't need to move yet. It is quite a depressing state of affairs for any would be buyers. We are chalking this all up to a "learning experience". We probably should've bought that 600000 house in that nice neighborhood several years back. It certainly is worth twice that amount now!

I was a recruit; part of a force that was invading some alien structure or planet. I was with team of ten or so other recruits lead by an army veteran who was training us. We were all issued standard space uniforms as well as energy rifles. The enemies we were facing were all humanoids that were dressed in green garb and were easy to take down. I entered the room that I was assigned to and quickly dispatched the occupant before it had a chance to fire back. Mind you, our main invasion force had already gone ahead and cleared out the bulk of the enemy forces. We were just there for cleanup. As we cleared the level, we began to muster in the foyer area. The room was large, spartan, and brightly lit by white light from the walls and ceiling. Our squad, led by our team leader, was lined up in single file on one of the many elevated platforms in the foyer. There were dozens of other squads in the area, all recruits, all lined up in single file waiting for the order to advance to the next ...

I went to another specialist last week and forgot to mention that I thought that I had solved my medical issue when I stopped using the retainer. Hopefully I will remember for next time. One interesting point he raised was that the symptoms I described were very much like asthma. But I don't get short of breath, just phlegmy. It is an avenue that I should look into though.

Bill Paxton passed away. I just wanted to use that quote.