A Day In The Life

Yesterday was pretty good, typical for a summer Friday. Our company is experimenting with summer hours (which means 9 hours a day during the week and 4 on Friday). Since most of us in design put in 9 daily hours (not counting lunch) on a regular basis, it comes off as a semi-free semi-vacation day. In my case I left at 2 in the afternoon, got my glasses adjusted (I bent the frames rolling over on them while reading in bed), and spent the afternoon reviewing playtest comments on the back porch until Kate called to start the grill.

The grill in question is affectionately known as the "Aztec Sacrifice Temple" and was built by my wife a few years ago. We had left the Webber Grill back in Lake Geneva, and rather than buy a new one, Kate instead ordered a load of bricks and constructed this monster along the left-hand side of the lawn, where it backs with Mr. Ericson's property. It is a solid mass at the base, with a level for air passages leading up into the grill area itself. The entire construction is unmortared, and the bricks have shifted a little in position, giving it sort of a "lost world" look.

Its also the most effective grill I've ever owned. Doesn't do lidded cooking, but it draws real well and gives me a nice hot flame. The bricks reflect the heat well, centering it in the middle of the grill. We did steaks with a mushroom, shallot, and butter sauce (mostly butter) and topped with shaved Parmesian cheese. Green beans and leftover almond skordalia (garlic mashed potatoes).

After dinner we drove down to Andy Collins and Gwen Kestrel's place - the pair have a nice house south of here with a typical exterior and an interior dominated by odd angles. They call it "Tindalos House" after the horror story where the deadly hounds of Tindalos reach their victims through strangely angled space. Andy & Gwen have been running a gaming weekend for the past few years (this was called GwenCon 3.5) with RPGs and boardgames. Kate and I played a suit-matching game called Coloretto which was fairly straightforward and a Pirate escape game which had some nice components, but I could not find the right key to unlocking.

Today is Tai Chi in the morning, probably more games in the afternoon. Got just a little rain overnight on the hill, and I am a little stuffy-headed as a result.

More later.