Jamie Wakefield

Why not start with thoughts about Steve Jobs? He’s the big topic these days. Here’s a quote from him about getting up in the morning. "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" Which is a great concept but I have a problem with the reality of that. For one thing, if you knew it was your last day, you wouldn’t plan for the future, you wouldn’t go to work in order to have money for rent or food, or a retirement. I can’t speak for women, but as a man, if I knew it was my last day on Earth, I know of a whole lot of hedonistic things I would do that didn’t involve making money or mowing the lawn or having a stable job. But those things need to be done if you think you’re going to be around for awhile. Also, I think it’s important to realize you need to ask yourself that initial question throughout the day. When I get up in the morning, about the last thing I want to do is shut off the alarm, get out of bed, have some coffee, sh...

Did you know we're moving back to Vermont? Movers come tomorrow. The apartment will have paper plates, two computers, a bed and a couch. For four days before we fly home. Internet right now is through what's known as a "hotspot" on Wendy's iPhone, which, through 3G, provides internet access. Since we have exceeded our limit on fast internet bandwidth speed, we're stuck with dial-up like internet access. Hence, very few updates. Quick rambles: We will be home late the 17th. The little dog is starting to show signs of age, his hearing seems gone and the four flights of steps are murder on him. He will be happy to be home to the green green grass of Vermont and four steps to get inside the house. Wendy quit reading "A Dance with Dragons" yesterday. I don't blame her one bit. Shame on you George "Robert Jordan" Martin. (Please sir, in your next book can you stop focusing so much on peeing, torture, whining and food? Thanks.) ...

* Lorelei told me I would not get any responses to "My Wife the Spy part III" because it is too scary. It looks like she is right. I'm glad she is out of that business now. * There is not a day that goes by that we do not think "I cannot wait to start our new life in Vermont. I cannot wait to have one home. I cannot wait to have a yard, a king sized bed, a lack of construction every morning, a gym where people understand etiquette and air conditioning and customer service and... etc." *We will miss Spain, don't get me wrong, but our time here is done for the moment. *After a five year wait, GRRM new novel is a huge disappointment to me. GRRM is the guy who wrote the book and HBO series "A Game of Thrones" both of which are excellent. This is the best way to explain how I feel: There is another fantasy series called "The Wheel of Time." Go look at the reviews on Amazon for books 5-10 of that series by Robert Jordan. The author of those boo...

Wendy and I are huge fans of anything “Top Chef.” We have watched every season of Top Chef at least twice, most three times, Top Chef Masters I and II twice and Top Chef Just Desserts only once. Right now is the current season of Top Chef Masters III and it is still great, with a few human flaws. In Top Chef Masters these are already established chefs with their own restaurants, (many times multiple restaurants,) usually world famous with multiple Michelin stars (Did you know the Michelin star is actually awarded by the same company that makes Michelin tires? It all started with a travel and car maintenance guide in 1900. True story.) Since they already have their own empire, they don’t play for personal gain, all the money they win goes to a charity of their choice. And I just have to rant about that because some of the charities they choose, I consider stupid. The world has real problems and if you’re going to potentially be winning more than a hundred grand for a problem, it sh...

Venice Part II will be coming soon. No, really. Saw Thor with Wendy, Lena and Stefan last night. Somehow, the fact that this movie was in 3D had eluded me. GLEEE!!!! I don’t really have a whole lot to say on this movie. It was adequate but its high rating on Rotten Tomatoes led me to expect more. Sure, the actors did an amazing job; every single one of them. Odin was great, Thor was great, Natalie Portman was, well, Natalie Portman so shut up. I enjoyed the depiction of the warriors three, Heimdall and Loki. While Lena thought Sif was hot, I thought she should have been a bit hotter. Thor with his shirt off made Lena and Wendy make primitive, guttural noises all men want to hear, only directed at them instead of someone else. The frost giants were giants in the sense that NBA players are giants. They were like seven feet tall. Seriously? Those are giants? The dialogue was clever, funny and well done, I believe thanks to the story being done by J. Michael Straczynski. As W...

If you read the reviews on Amazon, I'm in the vast minority but I was very disappointed in this game. I read all of the reviews and bought it for Wendy and I for her birthday. We've played it seven times in five weeks, once with four people, and we're pretty much done with it. Small World has all the things I was looking for, but failed to deliver. I like a fantasy theme. I like a simple concept that is supposed to be difficult to master. I like the counters, the board, the extra player instruction sheets, the layout, etc. In fact, I like everything about this game except the actual gameplay. It is somewhat similar to Risk in the fact that you have a board with different hexes you are trying to take over with your clan, be it elves, dwarves, giants, amazons, sorcerers, orcs etc. Paired randomly with each clan is a special ability. Some abilities make it easier to hold hexes you occupy or give you more gold coins at the start or make it easier to conquer certain hexes. Sou...

Wendy and I are gamers. I’ve shown her a few video games and she’s shown me a few board games. My friends from college have always been into the more heavily tactical board games sometimes referred to as European games. I’m referring to games like Settlers of Catan, Diplomacy, Axis and Allies, etc. I have never joined them in their love of these games, preferring Dungeons and Dragons or video games. But, I needed something to bridge the gap between games like Scrabble and video games for Wendy and I. I wanted something that wouldn’t take us eight hours to learn, was good for two players, heavy on strategy, high replay value, and more complex than typical family board games. What I found was Carcassone. The game consists of pulling tiles out of a bag and connecting them to existing tiles already on the board. You start with one tile on the board that contains a road, a field edge, and the beginning of a city. You pull your first tile and it could contain a piece of a city, an en...