Jamie Wakefield

All in one 24 hour period. Geeking out. My private boards have been quiet lately. They used to be used mainly for talking about whatever game it was we were playing. Organizing dungeon crawls, explaining the reasons why you want to start with a hundred wisdom when making a new character in Asheron’s Call, debating what we were going to do about Blood, why Thanes are the best class ever and everyone should make one, no no, why Paladins are the best class and if everyone made one we could do epic content solo, god damn it I’m sick of gaming and can’t wait for WOW to come out so we can all game together again. Ah, good times, good times. Geek times. The boards have been quiet lately as many of us have moved on to other things, like Spain or sailing around the world or having a child or going back to college or doing a triple tour of duty in Iraq. Sure, some people still play WoW and those discussions are cool, but not like the old days of a dozen posts a day discussing ad infinitum the d...

I forgot to put up my predictions for this last week's UFC . Well, not so much forgot as had my head buried in Spanish lessons. So, in a rather unorthodox entry, I’ll be telling you what I thought, and what really happened and why. There were only three fights that I was interested in on this card. Jon Fitch vs. Diego Sanchez Prediction – Sanchez is one of the most exciting, determined and aggressive fighters in the UFC today. Coming off the first loss (17-1) of his MMA career he’ll be looking to solidify his position as a man destined to hold the title. His first loss came while he was sick with a staph infection and shortly after the fight they removed a mass the size of a coffee cup from his thigh. In the Jon Fitch fights I’ ve seen (all one of them) he hasn ’t impressed me. I didn ’t see anything in his fight with Jeff Joslin that would indicate that he could hang with someone of Diego’s caliber. I’m predicting Sanchez runs through Fitch like an 18 wheeler through an outhou...

Ignorance is bliss. It really is true. Wendy has a subscription to “Time” magazine and every Tuesday a new one comes in filled with enlightenment. I eagerly look forward to a new issue. I love the quotes, the statistics, the little vacation destination spot reviews, the politics and learning more about the world. Seriously, I think if you want to sound smart to anyone you meet, just read one “Time” magazine a week and you’ll be impressive. This week's interesting story is how scientists/doctors are now using a small electrical current to calm Parkinson’s disease tremors, ease depression and awaken coma victims. “We pinpoint the part that needs stimulus, and provide it.” Seems simple enough to me. The brain runs on electric current, it stands to reason that maybe some of it isn’t getting enough. So, doctors open up the skull and stick a wire into places they think might need help and crank up the mild juice until they see results. Such as Scott Stipp who had the procedure done. On t...

Wait, er, that's rude and mean. What I meant to say is : "Thank you WOTC, THIS is exactly what I want to see for Green. EXACTLY. THANK YOU!"

A little work this morning and then Wendy feels the need for protein so we head down to a restaurant 10 yards from our apartment that we haven't been to since my first day here last October. I'm not too hungry so I plan on just having, essentially, scrambled eggs with shrimp and mushrooms. Wendy's looking over the menu and announces they have ostrich in a mushroom sauce. "I'll have that." "You're kidding?" "Nah. New horizons and all that." I've gotta tell ya, it tastes a whole hell of a lot more like beef than chicken. It even looks like beef with a rare pink center. It does have a little bit of a gamey , almost venison after taste to it that was also appealing and unique. I'd order it again and as a piece of advice, if you're ever in a strange place with strange food and don't know what to order, I can assure you, the ostrich tastes a lot like a steak. Go for that. From there we walked up to Fnac to buy some more blan...

Because YOU demanded it! Who are these mysterious people named "The Intern", "Lena & Stephan" and "Collette" and where are these mythical places like "The Lake" and "Brignoles?" The Beautiful Wendy and our intern "Albina" from Albania (not kidding) pose on the terrace. We miss you Albina and think of you often. Good times, good times. Lena and Stephan beat the heat this summer at Wendy's childhood home on the lake. (The cervezas helped a bit too.) This is the horror of Brignoles. The pool. The view. The deck chairs. The sunset. It was Hell I tell you. Hell! Don't ask me to speak of it again. The Beautiful Wendy with this evenings appetizer course. We had a feast before the feast every night while we watched the sun go down and discussed fascinating topics like "What do Americans really think of the French?" Ummm... Well... "And what's up with Freedom Fries? Do you know how funny we French thought...

The happy couple - Candy and Alfonso. This weekend we went to a wedding two hours outside of Madrid. Get this. It was Candy Lee Laballe getting married in Candeleda. She got lots of candy gifts for her bridal shower. I don't know. I find it funny. Candy is living the dream. American ex-pat marrying a Spanish man in his village. The wedding was a typical Spanish celebration, in that it started at 7:00 pm and lasted until 5:30 in the morning. I made it until just before two a.m. I would guess. Wendy made it until after the churros at 5:30 and I'm told she was one of the most energetic ones left. That was Sunday morning. Sunday night was the end of another festival in Madrid (which I am too lazy to look up the name of, sorry) so that meant very loud music until 1 am and then fireworks until 2 am. I stood on our terrace naked and sipped a beer and watched them while Wendy failed to sleep and read her book in bed, exhausted. Monday was no better. Wendy was sick starting at about 1 a...

Finally starting to get back into the swing of things here in Madrid. Monday was the usual morning of wake up, drink coffee, drink a liter of water and an hour later Wendy and I go running for three miles. Afterwards, Wendy jumped back into her work and I did a little writing and then got back into learning Spanish. There are eight lessons in section one and at the time we had head for the states, I had finished all eight and was starting section two. I did two lessons this morning, hoping to breeze through all 8 lessons again and get back to where I was as soon as possible. In the afternoon we went to pick up chicken for dinner. Tonight Lena and Stephan are coming over for a barbeque. Hopefully I won’t summon the bomberos (firemen) again. Since I’m a steak guy, I’m not quite sure how to do chicken legs. I know they take longer, but how much longer? I think its like an hour but I better make sure and call my dad who gives me some good tips and lets me know its about 12-15 minutes a sid...

I wrote this a lifetime ago for Scrye magazine. Ah, good times working for them. Anyway, Zac Hill wrote a nice article on Star City today about " Type Four " his favorite variation on Magic. This is my favorite variation. Army Magic: A Multi-Player Variant Axelrod Gunnarson glared out over his barbarous and supernatural army. The foul smelling Karplusan Yeti’s; the Sengir Vampires flying high above; the myriad wizards, clerics and monsters that made up his forces. How the Angels and the Elves held out for so long against him was vexing and inconceivable. He had long ago crushed Palladia-Mors and his Goblins and Dragons. Soon after that, he had defeated the nigh unstoppable Lord of Tresserhorn and his army of Merfolk, Doppelgangers, and Zombies. But still Asmira and her Angels resisted him. If only he could lure them away from her accused Castle, he would have them! But as long as she and her followers remained behind the mystic walls there was little his army could do. For no...

Matt – Have not read that yet. I, and the people reading the comments, thank you for the recommendation. I always need something new to read. Doug – I am. I’ve read a few of his books including "Guards! Guards!" And his collaboration with Neil Gaiman “Good Omens.” Doug – Thanks for the update. I didn’t realize that Seething Song had rotated out. It always amazes me no one plays Dragonstorm in Extended. I remember buying all the cards for it long ago, played it two or three times and never again. Chris – Wendy and I watched it just the other night. She was annoyed for hours at the judges giving the fight to Bisping. We like him and Hammil (well, we did anyway) from TUF and didn’t care who won as long as it was a good fight. Both of us were pissed at the judge’s decision. None of the people I thought would win; won. I thought Hammill would destroy Bisping. I thought Henderson would maul Rampage and I would have bet on Crocop to hospitalize Kongo. Houston Alexander? Yeah, he’s a...

Someone cursed me. "May you live in interesting times." Thank You! We are finally back in Madrid and relatively settled. We even went for a run today. Our newest favorite toy is the Nike + Ipod Sports Kit . It keeps track of our distance, time running, best time, average X minute mile and a host of other things. My sister Molly turned us on to it and like most things Apple, it is simple and intuitive. Some of the more interesting things it can do is track your run to a certain global distance. Wendy and I are going to challenge Collette to a race. The first one to run from Madrid to Paris (us) or Paris to Madrid (her) wins. Right now Molly is training for an Internet and live half marathon. The Nike + Ipod thing will keep track of racers and when you finish tell you what place you finished in the marathon. We live in magical times. Thanks to lots of sitting on a plane, sitting in a terminal and the lovely folks in Brignole we actually got some reading time in. I love both ...

I meant for this to be about the week in Brignole, but my brain wouldn't work that way. It insisted I start at the beginning. You've already seen the short version, this is the long version. There is a longer version because this is how those notes get transformed into the book "I'm not an alcoholic, I'm just European." I could wait until the week in Brignole is done, but then you would be waiting another week for something to read and that would be bad. Let me know if this makes you chuckle. Wendy and I spend the last frantic day of “vacation” packing for our flight and mailing things back to Madrid. “Things shipped back to Madrid” would be items that you can’t find easily here. My prefered brand of Axe deodorant (“mmm you smell nice” is very important to me and helps lead the way to something else that’s even more important to me) toothpaste, horseradish (no, they don’t have horseradish here) the instant oatmeal and pudding we like, etc) Packing can be rough...