lineofaction

Wherein Ryan eats too much food at Thanksgiving and joins a DnD group comprised mostly of programmers.

Alison, Carl, Tina and I enjoyed a humongous Thanksgiving feast at Alison’s family’s house. There was over 20 people there and we drank wine and ate...I mean its hard to describe how much food I ate. I don’t think I’ll be eating for a few days to balance everything out. Child’s Play (http://www.childsplaycharity.com) has gathered well over $100,000 in donations to Children’s Hospitals around the nation. I made my contribution this week. I hope you do the same. I actually took the time to make up a Holiday card this year and I’ll be sending it out as soon as I can recompile people’s addresses. This is the first time I’ve ever done such a thing, so hopefully it will be a success. Back on the food and beverage discussion, a few things I recommend trying: I had two beers over the last month that were really a joy and I recommend… first is Westmalle Trappist ale which had a really nice finish to it, and then Alaskan Brewing Company’s 2005 Smoked Porter, which if you’re a fan of dark, smokey beers, is a real treat. It’s also hard as hell to find, so good luck with that. Apparently there were only 15 cases sold in Arizona. On the non-alchoholic side, I picked up an Odwalla Superfood on a whim the other day. It contains the miraculous micro-algae Spirulina, which is probably really great for you, and amazingly enough it actually tastes pretty great, despite being the most horrible shade of green. A few more things and then I’ll wrap it up. I finally found a DnD group at work and we’re starting next week. I’m not sure that I will ever grow out of playing that game. I braved Black Friday at Best Buy because they were selling both season 1 AND season 2 of Arrested Development, quite possible the best sitcom I’ve ever seen, for $30 bucks at Best Buy. If you haven’t seen this show, I order you to go out and rent the first disc of season one and check it out.

Wherein Ryan attempts to get people interested in yet another Holiday charity…

Every year the guys at Penny Arcade ( http://www.penny-arcade.com ) organize a pro-gamer charity to benefit sick kids at Children’s Hospitals around the nation (take that, Jack Thompson). This year I’ve taken it upon myself to shout it from the mountaintop that people should contribute to this charity. It’s very easy to do – just go to http://www.childsplaycharity.com click on a white controller on the US map to select a Children’s hospital to contribute to, and then browse their Amazon.com store for a gift you want to send them. It shows how many are needed and how many have been purchased already. The stuff they want ranges from $5 bucks to $300, so you can contribute whatever you wish. I urge you all to do so. I’ve got a few things brewing involving said charity, but nothing has come to fruition yet. I’ll share if and when those things manifest.