The Conservative Zone

Yesterday was a fantastic day! Mike and I spent 9 hours working with the guys from Fanatic Games and it was a blast! We helped out making and sanding tables, setting up stock, and just having a good time all around. They open tomorrow at 9am. Hopefully they will have everything ready. I'd like to help them out again today, but I work today and I can't take any time off because I'm on notice for my present job.

They fed us at a real nice restaurant to pay us for our work, and I didn't get back home until almost midnight. Tired, sunburnt and happy. Shane, Tony and Mike are all great guys and I'm going to give them all the help I can to succeed. I want there to be a choice in where to game in Memphis.

Choice is good.

Posted by Mark at 8:49 AM | Permalink

I'm off to a meeting for my new job in just a few minutes. The job hasn't actually started yet, but there are things that I will be involved with in the new job that are starting up now, and I need to be in on this now so I can hit the ground running when I do start.

That, and I'm helping the guys at Fanatic Games out today. They are getting their space today and need to set it up and stock everything. I want this store to succeed very much and helping out like this is the best way I can do that.

See you later!

Posted by Mark at 8:00 AM | Permalink

Well, I originally came out against President Bush's executive orders authorizing wiretaps without a FISA court order. I thought it was just plain wrong, and there should always be some kind of judicial oversight.

Well, it turns out I was wrong. It seems five former FISA judges have come out and said that President Bush authorizing wiretaps via executive order when there is no time to get a FISA warrant is legal and proper. Of course, you can't find that quote in the MSM, it goes against their action points.

I'm not a legal scholar, and I don't play one on TV. So I can get this one wrong.

Posted by Mark at 7:53 AM | Permalink

Memphis has had bad luck with gaming stores over the past few years. At one time we had several stores, but for various reasons they have all closed. At present, there is only the Games Workshop World of Battle. The World of Battle is a wonderful place, but you can only play Games Workshop games there. That is changing Saturday with the opening of Fanatic Games. Granted, they are in the hinterlands of Bartlett, but that's where they settled. It's closer to me than the Bunker is, so I'm not complaining.

Anyway, they open at 9AM on the 1st of April. They are planning a Rogue Trader Tournament to showcase their new tables, and you can find them at 4210 Altruria, Suite 136. Here is the MapQuest of the area.

Support your FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store), every chance you can. Sure you can get your wargaming supplies cheaper off the Internet, but where are you going to play? If you're like me and live in an apartment, you don't have the room for a 4x6' table to wargame on. This way, you have a place to play and hang out with other wargamers and you don't have to worry about your things getting broken by a clumsy wargamer.

See you there!

Posted by Mark at 9:01 AM | Permalink

I'm not supposed to start my new job until the 25th or so of April, but they want me in today to help out with a project they are doing. There are times I'm so popular that I can't stand myself. ;-)

Posted by Mark at 8:57 AM | Permalink

This is really getting out of control. Lawmakers are backing up faster than a stunt driver, none of them is willing to stick their neck out for fear of offending "potential" voters, and the pro-illegals just keep getting louder and louder.

Ronald Reagan said something like this: "No country can maintain its security without first control of its borders." And that is so true. The bad news is, the "undocumented" immigration problem is growing every second, and it is growing exponentially.

These illegals are slapping the face of every legal immigrant that has ever become a citizen. Something must be done to stop this tsunami of people. They are becoming a disruptive influence on our country.

Stop the anchor baby program. The bad news is, that would require changing the 14th Amendment. Start branding illegals so they are easier to spot. Make it so anybody caught crossing the border illegally never gets another shot at being here.

Enforcing existing laws would go about a massive positive direction. Instead, Congress passes more laws that aren't enforceable and that makes them think they are doing something worthwhile.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

"Calling an illegal alien an undocumented immigrant is like calling a rapist an undocumented boyfriend."

Posted by Mark at 8:34 AM | Permalink

Starting as of now, I am participating in this Blog Meme about getting Mike a job.

You see, he wants to turn his blog writing skills into actual money by writing for the local daily publication, The Commercial Appeal.

Mike's sardonic, rapier-like wit would be a great fit, simply because the CA takes itself too seriously. They are too far in bed with the power people of Memphis to take them on when they do wrong, but Mike isn't.

Go get 'em Mike!

Posted by Mark at 8:55 AM | Permalink

Well, I am sufficiently geeked out for several months now. I got to game until I dropped, then got up and gamed some more. I crammed about 40 hours of gaming into 48 hours of time. I am as happy as a clam in mud, and I can't look forward to next year.

I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted, but here's what I did get. Click on the picture for full size:

This is a layout of the demo, looking at the town laid out for the opposed landing. The two squadrons of Fighta-Bommerz, Landa with troops and three Big Blitz Brigades just off the map at the bottom of the shot are reinforcements coming on in a later turn. Mike's forces are in the far corner of the map.

This is a view of the battle in progress, both sides are hurt, but still dangerous:

This is one of the three scenarios I played of Memoir '44. There was actually 6 games, you played the scenario on both sides to give each player or team an equal chance. I won 5 out of 6 in this game:

I also played in a game of Werewolf, but I was lynched in the second round. This was a beer-and-pretzels game were werewolves kill villagers, then the villagers randomly lynch other villagers in order to kill the werewolves.

I also spent a lot of time renewing friendships, making new ones and having fun just talking games. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend, except for the Internet being down. If you have never been to a con, I highly suggest that you attend one, it will change your life for the better.

Posted by Mark at 11:45 AM | Permalink

Here it is, pretty late and I am WIRED on Bawls. Tired and wired. Not making too much sense, but I'm still on my feet and gaming until I drop in a couple of more hours. I've caught all of you up on my posting, I found a public computer with internet access, so I've backdated all of my posts to look like I've been liveblogging the whole time, which I really was, just offline live blogging. It makes sense, just not to me.

I'll give you guys a wrap up Sunday after I catch up on real life and everything that's been backing up and put on hold since Friday.

Later.

Posted by Mark at 11:48 PM | Permalink

Finished up more Memoir '44, this one was a monster scenario, it was so big we had 3 people per side pushing pieces and one "Supreme Commander" handing out order cards. I also attended a game of Brawling Battleships, but no one but me showed up, so the guy doing the game gave me a quick rundown then hung it up for the night. I don't know what I'm going to do now, but I've got a good 4 more hours of gaming time left tonight. I'm also looking forward to playing a game of Shogun tomorrow morning to wrap up the con.

Posted by Mark at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, I just finished up several games of a WWII game, called Memoir '44. I played both sides of two scenarios, and myself and the guy I was with went 3-1. We won both sides (playing Germans and Americans) of the first scenario, and won as the Germans, but lost as the British in the second scenario. After catching my breath, I'm off in a while to play Brawling Battleships, a Naval card game.

I have had so many Bawls, I may never really sleep again. I am sucking them down like they were bottled water and I have no fatigue at all after getting 4 hours of sleep in the past 36 hours. When you buy this stuff by the case, it says it right on the side, "NEVER SLEEP AGAIN." This is perfect for LAN gamers and programmers who do things in multi-day spurts.

There is something I must confess. I am not liveblogging, and this is quite evident if you have been reading my blog over the weekend. I bought a wireless network card specifically to access the Internet while here at the Con, and the hotel's computer that controls the network is screwed up and won't let the Net into the network. Supposedly they are (still, that was 5+ hours ago now) working on it. I'll have to check in with the front desk to see if they got it working or not.

I may have to go and use one of their public computers, instead my own. We'll see if those are working.

Posted by Mark at 5:32 PM | Permalink

Well, that was craptacular. I know I didn't expect much, but I only had two people for the tournament! One of them I brought along, the other one was drafted by a mutual friend to play. With only two people, we played one game and called it quits. The good news is this allowed me to go and play games, instead of running them. Bittersweet, and this was, after all, the first time I tried this. Very few people have a smashing success their first time around. I'm just happy to be here.

Posted by Mark at 11:44 AM | Permalink

Well, because I'm full of Bawls, I didn't get much sleep. I kind of drifted in and out of sleep for the 4 hours I had blocked out for rest. So I'm up and at em, I'm on my way down to the Con Suite to get some breakfast.

Posted by Mark at 7:10 AM | Permalink

Well, I'm wrapping up a day of excitement! The Con got off to a great start. While the pre-registration line was long and slow, I managed to make a few friends in the line. One of them ended up in me being invited to demo/tournament Epic at another local con, ShadowCon. This one goes down in January.

At the appropriate time, Mike and I appeared on the main floor and began our demo of Epic:Armageddon. The scenario was Mike, being the Space Marine, was making an opposed landing on an Ork planet. I set up a city, then showed him where a Great Gargant was, since he could see things like that from orbit. After he made his calculations, I laid out my forces throughout the city. The demo then opened with Mike landing two drop pods, two Thunderhawks and a landing craft. He also had 8 formations of Terminators waiting up in orbit as well.

Who won? We don't know. The purpose of the demo was to get people passing by interested in checking out the game and maybe even helping us with throwing dice or offering advice. When you measure the demo that way, it was a resounding success. We hung up the game after the session (4-hour windows of time) ended and called it a draw. I was hurt, but still dangerous. I had most of his forces on the run, but he still had two formations of Terminators that he didn't get around to bringing down.

Posted by Mark at 2:30 AM | Permalink

Well, here we are! It took a while to get connected to the Internet, the gateway server was down. Now that they've got it fixed, I'll be sending pictures shortly. We're all settled in the room and the demo will be starting in about an hour, Mike should be here any minute.

See you in a while!

Posted by Mark at 5:46 PM | Permalink

Well, the time is here! MidSouthCon will start in just a couple of hours!

I am bringing my laptop and a wireless card to the hotel, and plan on liveblogging each night from the con. Lots of pictures to follow.

I am doing an Epic:Armageddon demo 7pm Friday night, and a tournament starting at 9am Saturday. If you're in the Memphis area, stop by the con and enjoy some good, clean fun!

Posted by Mark at 8:18 AM | Permalink

Here you go. Shooting Fish in a Barrel.

This is the story about the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Control and their efforts to wipe out drinking in bars. Somehow or another, it is now an arrestable offense to be drunk in a bar. Not driving drunk, not acting rowdy, just for having one too many.

It doesn't matter if you are taking an elevator or a car, it doesn't matter if you have a designated driver, get drunk in a bar in Texas and you're going to the hoosegow to sober up.

Does this strike anybody else as just plain wrong? I mean, at this point in time, alcohol is a legal substance, and anyone partaking of it should be able to partake of it without governmental interference. Getting quietly smashed in a bar should not be against the law. But yet it is. You make the call.

Posted by Mark at 8:09 AM | Permalink

As it turns out, I GOT THE JOB!

While I"m not 100% clear on the job responsibilities, I am going to be helping other mentally ill people get off assistance and get back into the work force. You can read my story if you peruse my archives, and it proved a powerful story for my interviewers.

They were looking for someone with speaking experience, as I will be making presentations from time to time, and empathy for those who have mental illnesses. Just like my present job, this one requires that you have a mental illness. It looks like I have found a new career track, as I can't seem to get away from this. ;-)

Also, having my own laptop with wireless connectivity didn't hurt either.

I'm off to Atlanta next month for the training, exactly when I'll let you know when I liveblog from there.

More info as it becomes available.

Posted by Mark at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yes, this is dead dog early. I have to drive to Nashville with some clients to attend the Tennessee Mental Health Consumers Association Day on the Hill. We're going to meet our state representatives to raise their awareness about mental health issues. So I'm off soon, and won't be back until late.

Posted by Mark at 5:27 AM | Permalink

I have a job interview today, and I'm awful nervous. I always am for any job interview. This one is a $10 cut in pay a month, and it's full time as opposed to the 3-days a week I am working right now, but it's a regular work week opposed to the odd hours I work now. So I'm up for this job. I consider it a step towards a regular full time job. If I can hang with a regular 9-to-5 job, then I can make it back out into the real world.

Wish me luck.

Posted by Mark at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I just got word this week about Southern Thunder 2006 being held June 3 & 4. It's a regional rocket shoot held in Manchester, Tennessee, just SE of Nashville, on some 1,200 acres of a sod farm. It's run by the Music City Missile Club (MC²) and the Huntsville Area Rocketry Association. The club that I belong to, the Mid-South Rocket Society will be planning a convoy out there as well.

I plan on being there, with my son and the club. I anticipate 4 High Power launches, 2 with the Garth R on J350's, and an I161 and I211 on the JL1. Then there's the 4-6 Mid-power launches, and I don't know how many model rocket launches. That's just me, by the way. There should be tons of other people out there who will also be launching their rockets of all sizes as well. I'm saving every nickel I can between then and now to make it, if you want to donate to Marks Rocket Fund, the button is over there to the right. --> ;-)

There are few more adrenalin laced sports that you can participate in. Other than throwing yourself out of a perfectly good airplane, I don't know of another sport that fills your spirit with such excitement. You haven't lived this sport until you've had your chest shaken with the liftoff of an 'M' motor. Watching it climb into the sky, yelling "Go GO GO! Baby!" like it was a Saturn 5.

And I'll tell you this. It's just as exciting to a kid to watch a rocket he built blast off on an 'A' motor as it is for me to watch my big rockets go up.

If you want a rush, this is where it's at. And it all starts at your local Wal-Mart or hobby store. You can pick up a "Ready to Fly" kit, which has everything you need (rocket, launch pad, launch controller, and supplies for two flights) but 4AA batteries. Want more? you can buy motors 3 for $5, and with some additional wadding you can keep flying that RTF rocket. Then go to your local hobby store and buy yourself a model rocket kit. There are lots of rockets that do a whole bunch of stuff. Payload rockets, multi-stage rockets, just plain cool looking rockets, the list goes on and on.

Just adhere to the Model Rocket Safety Code and each flight will be safe and fun. This is a sport that the whole family can enjoy, boys and girls, moms and dads.

Can you tell I'm excited about this?

Posted by Mark at 8:21 AM | Permalink

Oh, I almost forgot!

I finally got around to getting my Level 2 test taken last weekend, and I passed it with 100%! So now the paperwork is on its way to NAR and I should have my Level 2 card back in the mail within a couple of weeks, plenty of time for Southern Thunder.

Congratulations to me! =)

Posted by Mark at 8:15 AM | Permalink

I actually missed this, I was busy having an attack yesterday.

Eighty years ago yesterday, the first liquid fueled rocket flew in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was the first step that led to a pinnacle of American ingenuity and drive on July 20, 1969 on the Moon. "One small step for [a] man, one giant leap for Mankind."

But Dr. Goddard didn't know that. He was a scientist, just seeing what he could do with his rockets.

And so it goes today. There are thousands of rocket scientists in this country, from 6 to 60, all engaged in model and high power rocketry. The only difference between me and NASA is they have a bigger budget. The concepts and scientific principles that they use adhere to me as well. The dream of going to the stars is still alive in our youth today.

One day, hopefully soon, Man will venture out beyond Earth orbit once again to explore our solar system.

Posted by Mark at 8:06 AM | Permalink

From time to time, I peruse the left-wing moonbat blogs, just to see what they are thinking and saying. I found out this "blog meme" labeled as "ITMFA, "Impeach the MF'er already." I also heard something about "Give the bastard a blowjob so we can impeach him already."

Yes, that is what the moonbats are thinking and saying.

I have a response to what these, idiots, are saying. And I can sum it up in two words.

President.

Cheney.

If that doesn't strike fear into the hearts of the Liberals, I don't know what will. And if that doesn't work, there is always,

President.

Hastert.

Posted by Mark at 10:09 AM | Permalink

It looks like Justice Souters (house) has dodged a bullet. Souter home safe, symbolic vote in his favor.

Too bad. I think it should have been brought down. But the good news is that there is an anti-Kelo legislation in the works in Hew Hampshire. And all over the place.

Posted by Mark at 10:00 AM | Permalink

My good friend Mike is back to blogging! If you want to get a wonderful insight into Memphis politics, that is the place to go.

Posted by Mark at 9:54 AM | Permalink

I only work three days a week, but one of those days is a Saturday. This precludes me from flying rockets, and participating in most wargaming tournaments. Unless I can take a day off, in which case is like pulling teeth from my boss.

But last week, my boss asked me if I wanted to do something else. I'm not sure of the details as yet, but it would still be working with the mentally ill. I don't know the hours, or anything. I will find out more today. I just thought you'd like to know that things might be changing around here at the Zone. If I do have to abide by normal business hours, this will mean me getting up real early and doing all of this stuff.

I'll let you know more tonight.

Posted by Mark at 9:34 AM | Permalink

What a day of gaming!

I attended the "Ides of March" Epic:Armageddon tournament yesterday. There are two twists to this tournament to make it interesting.

The rules were simple, you brought a 2,700 point Space Marine army with a supreme commander. Everybody plays Space Marines to make sure that everyone starts on an even footing.

First, everybody secretly draws a random card, one has "Caesar," one has "Brutus," and the rest say "Senator." If your supreme commander is killed, you surrender your card. If Brutus kills Caesar, many points are given, enough to just about automatically win the game. If Caesar kills Brutus, less points are awarded, but enough to possibly win. Last year, I was Caesar and I killed Brutus, but that "reverse" rule wasn't in the tournament.

Second, you randomly picked which army you would play. You could draw your own army, you could face your own army.

So on to the battle reports.

First round, I faced John, who drew his own army. I had Mike G's army (we had three Mikes at the tournament), who he purposefully hosed. He weighed down his terminators with a Dreadnought, so they couldn't teleport. He also had one Tactical Detachment without transports. The short story is, I was spanked. I was so hobbled with the army and I faced a Warlord Titan that I didn't have a chance. I lost 3-0.

Second round, I faced Mike H, with Johns army again. This time, I had my army, which while not optimized to face a titan, I was better equipped to face the rest of his army. This one I won 1-0. This is the first time in a while that I won (albeit by the skin of my teeth) against Mike. The last 3 times we faced each other with SM vs SM, we fought to a 4 turn draw on victory points. So winning, even with my own list, felt pretty good.

Third round, I faced Mike G, with guess what? John's army. This was getting annoying. For this round, I had Greg's army. At least this time I had a Warhound titan (a smaller version of the Warlord I have been facing all day). This one was a very bloody battle ending with me losing by victory points in 4 turns.

So I went 1-2 for the day, but my army went 3-0. This, with my perfect sportsman scores, boosted me to 4th place out of 8. A respectable showing for the day.

MONDAY UPDATE: I just got an email from Greg, the organizer of the tournament, and he said I got Best Army for composition. I had a little of everything, best equipped to handle anything. Except Titans.

Posted by Mark at 9:16 AM | Permalink

Here are some pretty amazing pictures. They are chalk drawings on sidewalks that have the amazing effect of 3-D. Here is one example:

Go and visit the rest of them. They are truly amazing.

Posted by Mark at 9:26 AM | Permalink

You tell me what the implied message of this image is:

If you guessed, "Cheney should retire, then DING DING DING you got it! How could you possibly get any other message in this heavily cropped photo. For those of you wondering, Reuters is responsible for this.

The press is as subtle as a brick through a window.

Posted by Mark at 9:16 AM | Permalink

Things are getting worse: Legislation would shift costs of health care to companies.

This is bad news, in so many ways. First off, let's say there was a substantial savings on the state health care system. Do you think taxes would go down to reflect this? Of course not. But prices will rise (or pay will be cut) to balance out the mandated health care costs.

Why not just give everyone a Health Savings Account? Prices would be lower, and there would be competition for doctors. If consumers have to spend their own money, they will think twice about spending it, or they will shop around for the best price. This will bring health care costs down, because if you don't care what you are spending, then why not have more tests, procedures, etc.? With only the health care companies trying to hold the line, but consumers continuing to push it, prices will go up.

This idea of tacking on $3 per hour for health care is stupid. It hurts the poor, drives up costs for everybody and makes more people dependent on government. Which, I guess, is why the politicians are doing it.

Posted by Mark at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

From Drudge:

BOOK SALES SOS: CARVILLE/BEGALA BOOK BUST, 'TAKE IT BACK' SELLS 17,734 COPIES SINCE JAN. RELEASE, ACCORDING TO NIELSEN'S BOOKSCAN; WONKETTE ANA MARIE COX 'DOG DAYS' 5,383 COPIES SOLD... DAILY KOS 'CRASHING THE GATE' ONLY 253 COPIES PURCHASED, NIELSEN CLAIMS...

You can look up the Amazon pages for these books here: Take it back, Dog Days and Crashing the gate.

I think it's funny, that two of these books are "how-to's" on how to get Democrats back to winning elections. The bad news is, the crazies in charge of the sanitarium aren't listening. Considering those numbers, nobody is listening.

Which is bad news. The Democrat party is marginalizing itself, and will soon be relegated to the trunk, not just the back seat if something doesn't change, and soon. I don't want to see one-party rule, even if it is the party that I favor. We need two, strong parties to keep each other in check. If the Republicans get their act together before the midterm elections, then the Democrats will be in real trouble.

Let's hope it doesn't quite come to that.

Posted by Mark at 10:07 AM | Permalink

You have got to be kidding me. Unfortunately, these moonbats are serious. ACLU: Lethal Injection Violates First Amendment.

Here it is, straight from the article:

The American Civil Liberties Union claimed Wednesday that California's lethal injection method violates the First Amendment rights of execution witnesses by not allowing them to see if the inmate is experiencing pain before death.

I'm sorry, but I'm not aware of any such right enumerated in the First Amendment. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, or maybe I need some mind-altering substances to see it.

I personally am against lethal injection. I think if you raped your victim for 14 hours, then shot her in the head, you should get the exact same treatment. 14 stab wounds? Start counting. Before you think I'm some kind of monster, I think the death penalty should be reserved for heinous crimes, and where direct evidence exists. No circumstantial cases, but something concrete. A bloody fingerprint, a witness who saw it happen, and so on.

The ACLU (American Communist Liberties Union) is against the death penalty, and will go to any lengths to stop it. Good luck. I think we should have more executions, and they should happen within a year of the conviction. The convict gets several reviews of their case, and if they all hold up, off to hell they go. Maybe that will have a positive impact on the murder rate. If the perp knows it's going to be swift and certain, and in the manner that they perform, them maybe they will think twice.

Posted by Mark at 9:50 AM | Permalink

Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack said, "The two biggest wastes of land are cemeteries and golf courses."

Well, it seems that the city of North Hills, NY thinks the same thing. Groups File Lawsuit In Fight Over Golf Club.

It seems that the people who run the city are looking into "acquiring" the Deepdale golf course and turning it into multi-million dollar homes. This is no little public golf course, but rather a one visited by the monied and famous. Rated as one of the best courses in the country, this will be an interesting fight.

And, it just goes to show you that the rich are not immune from Kelo. This travesty has got to stop. Please get this to the SCOTUS and have them reverse this.

Posted by Mark at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, dontchaknow, Babs is at it again. The Importance of Balanced Power in Congress.

The news is not she's an idiot, but rather her (lack) of spelling. While you can see the corrected version at the link above, here is the version that was originally posted, with all of the grammatical errors highlighted. You'll have to zoom in to see the errors.

But of course, with Babs being a responsible adult, she laid the responsibility of who was wrong at the feet of the Webmaster, who supposedly mistyped what Babs had to say.

But that really earns that F above, was that she said this:

...In the 1970’s, during the Nixon Administration, serious political corruption arose and the Republican leadership stepped up and took responsibility by holding hearings and subpoenaing administration officials....

I hate to tell Babs this, but it was the DEMOCRAT leadership that did it, because it was a Democrat Congress, not a Republican one at that time. The Republicans didn't have the power to convene hearings, they were the minority party. Just like the Democrats today can't do what they want to do most of all: Impeach Bush.

Talk about revisionism. Blecch.

Posted by Mark at 9:58 AM | Permalink

Air America is basically finished. AIR AMERICA TUNED OUT?

WLIB, Air America's flagship station, is looking like it will not renew its contract with Air America on April 1st. AA's ratings are microscopic compared to anybody else. You can't build a radio network on hate and vitriol against one man. It gets old and even the converted are no longer listening. The only reason why this "network" is still operating is the large infusions of cash from the backers. The hosts don't get paid, the network has to pay the radio station to carry the programming, no wonder they are in the shape they are.

Look for talk of the Fairness Doctrine being revived as soon as Air America dies. Just because Liberals can't make it in the real world.

Posted by Mark at 9:46 AM | Permalink

This is why this port deal with the UAE is a bad idea. Tehran, Dubai to strengthen ties.

In a rather surprising move, one of our "closest allies" has allied itself with one of our biggest enemies. Which tells me that either the UAE is doing a bad job of straddling the fence, or is setting us up for a fall. The friend of my enemy is my enemy and all that.

This port deal is looking worse and worse all the time, and this move just puts a cap on it. If the President continues to push for this deal to go through, in light of this new development, then I will have to withdraw more of my support from him.

I am a Conservative, not necessarily a Republican. They are not the same thing. Not any more.

Posted by Mark at 9:30 AM | Permalink

I'm actually feeling human this morning, not with the morning drag I have been feeling for the past couple of weeks. Still nothing to report on in the news that hasn't already been hashed out.

But I do have some good news. And no, I didn't switch my car insurance to Geico.

Remember the post a while back where I hinted at a FLGS? For those of you who didn't Google FLGS, it stands for Friendly Local Gaming Store. Yes, a new store is opening up in Memphis (actually Bartlett) for those of us who game. I just got hold of a flyer yesterday, and it says they plan to open on April 1st. No Web presence as yet, but hopefully that will change.

This store will allow for the playing of non-Games Workshop games. Which, at present, is the only game in town, if you excuse the pun.

I personally plan on giving this store all of the business I can. I want it to succeed, simply because it's closer to my place than the Bunker, and it will allow me to play games other than Epic, Battlefleet Gothic and Warhammer 40k.

More details as they become available.

Posted by Mark at 9:34 AM | Permalink

I just can't stand mornings any more. While I'm getting to bed at a reasonable hour, I just don't want to get out of bed in the morning. I'm sorry for the lack of comment, I especially wanted to comment on this mock trial of President Bush in Parsippany, NJ.

But I just can't do it. I had that on my list of things to comment on yesterday when I had an attack. That was a wonderful 90 minutes, whimpering in the closet. In fact, I have about 45 minutes before I have to go to work, I think I'll do that again. Maybe I'll feel better.

Posted by Mark at 9:39 AM | Permalink