Dale Yu: Back in the Saddle Again

OK, well, I’m happy to report that I’m back in the 21st century again—I once again have a laptop computer and a wireless connection.  Thanks to everyone for their support and advice on what to do about the hard drive.  I’m happy to say that I had come up with a solution just as my article was posting to the ‘Net.  It appears that the boot sector had become corrupt., but the rest of the data was still mostly intact.  There were a few other crunched sectors on the drive, but I think I got about 90% of the data off that drive and almost 100% of the data that I really wanted to get off of the drive!

I haven’t been very active online (or anywhere else for that matter) as I’ve been installing all my old programs onto my new laptop computer.  Most of this week has been spent frustratingly watching status bars creep across my screen.  I was surprised to discover that I have about 35 “important” applications that I want on my computer in order to function!  Admittedly, some of them are less productive than others (such as BSW or Ticket to Ride: the Computer Game), but they are all things I HAD to have on the new computer…

Enough about computers—I’m back in the saddle again as far as gaming goes as well!  As I’ve mentioned in past columns, the majority of my gaming this year has been at longer conventions (namely the Gathering of Friends, Gulf Games and Origins).  In fact, I’d estimate that almost 80% of my gaming has come from those three events so far!  I’ve not been a regular at my local game group as I’ve either been working or on parental duty on the weekend afternoons that it is scheduled for.  Furthermore, my old weeknight group pretty much dissolved about 18 months ago as we all became too busy to keep up a regular schedule.

But things are going to change.  I’m in the process of resurrecting the weeknight group.  I think I’m going to start small—trying to limit the group to one table—and maybe shoot for once or twice a month.  I like the idea of having a smaller group.  For one, it allows anyone in our group to be able to volunteer to host it.  Additionally, I think it makes things more cozy because you get a chance to interact with everyone else in the group.  There is also less “wasted” time as half of the group won’t have to pull out some ten minute filler that no one wants to play as they wait for the other group to finish their game so that player shuffling can occur.  I’m definitely looking forward to resuming gaming with an intimate circle of friends. 

One of the big problems with the old weeknight group was that it was still fairly ad hoc—we didn’t have a set night of the week to play games.  Instead, we relied on members volunteering their kitchen table whenever they were free.  They emailed the group and then hoped they got at least three other people free on that night to come play games.  I’m hoping that if we can set a rigorous schedule, the members will be more likely to set aside time in their long term schedules for it.  It was always hard trying to coordinate schedules for gaming with only three days notice!  Also, I think it will help to make game nights less frequent; everyone in my group is busy with work and kids and whatnot, and I don’t want anyone to feel overwhelmed by the schedule.

Finally, I’m going to get back on my gaming evangelist saddle for a little while at least.  As you may recall, I had tried to introduce games to my in-laws over the summer.  While that attempt failed, my father-in-law did say that he wanted to start playing games and will be at the weeknight meetings.  I’ll be introducing him to Eurogames from the very start!  I’ll post back and let you know how it goes…

Well, I’m off to watch another scrollbar crawl across my screen… I should be up and running at full speed by next week.  One thing to think about is whether there are any BGN readers out there with an interest in playing in a fantasy football league.  I hosted a free league last year and I think that most of the players had fun.  If there is enough interest, I’m happy to host the league again.  Please leave your name in the comments below if you want to play.  We did a live draft last year which was well received, and I will likely do that again.  If there is enough interest, I’ll post the date and time of the draft in next week’s column.

Until your next appointment,
The Gaming Doctor

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