urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:bonus_npl bonus_npl bonus_npl 2008-09-19T13:16:32Z urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:bonus_npl:1096 2008-09-19T13:16:32Z 2008-09-19T13:16:32Z Happy Birthday to my beautiful and wonderful wife, <span class='ljuser ljuser-name_xpell_arielle' lj:user='xpell_arielle' style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='http://xpell-arielle.livejournal.com/profile'><img src='http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif' alt='[info]' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='http://xpell-arielle.livejournal.com/'><b>xpell_arielle</b></a></span>!&nbsp; I love you so much, and I can't help but marvel at how lucky I am to have you!<br /><br /><img height="178" border="0" width="320" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/bonus_npl/pic/00001x83/s320x240" alt="" /><br /> urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:bonus_npl:777 2008-07-16T04:22:27Z 2008-07-16T04:22:27Z Well, Con is over, and I've pretty much shifted back into the real world.&nbsp; I got back late Sunday night, fortunately only delayed around 20 minutes, slept until 11 on Monday, and had the longest day of work ever today.&nbsp; The entire trip was awesome, and I'm not going to take the time to do a full recap, but I wanted to hit a few high points:<br /><ul><li>Thursday we went to Rocky Mountain National Park, which was beautiful, and it was also a great chance to spend time with Sax and Zebraboy on the long car ride there, and Gotcha, Teki, and Ed Peebles on the long car ride back.</li><li>There were plenty of fantastic games this year, but I have to give the prize to Tablesaw's Remote Control.&nbsp; For both playing and watching, I think it was the most entertaining game this year (and it faced some pretty tough competition).&nbsp; Actually I really enjoyed every game I played.<br /></li><li>Wombat's cryptic was just beautiful.&nbsp; I won't say anything specific in case anyone hasn't done it yet, but it was such a satisfying ending.</li><li>This was the first year that we didn't leave until later on Sunday, and it was really nice to not have to rush out the door after the awards ceremony.&nbsp; Artistry drove us to the mall for lunch, and afterwards we got to hang out and talk for a few hours with puzzling friends until we had to say goodbye.</li></ul>All in all, what a great weekend!&nbsp; I look forward to seeing you all again next July (or hopefully January)! urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:bonus_npl:710 2008-01-25T03:09:14Z 2008-01-25T03:09:14Z During my annual post-Mystery Hunt malaise this year, I realized that seeing/interacting with all of the awesome people I know from the world of puzzling only twice a year is not nearly enough.&nbsp; So, I decided to finally get an LJ account so I can try to keep up with everyone.&nbsp; I probably won't do much (if any) posting, but hopefully this will give me a way to keep in touch.