Busy bee

Well, my birthday is coming up this week and I'm making a "New Birthday's Resolutions".  The list is as follows:

1) Keep my blogs up to date, particularly the personal one!

2) Find employment (still working on it),

3) Enjoy myself more.

February Activities

This February we attended a few events courtesy of MacaroniKid: 

1. Phineas and Ferb Live - Loads of fun for all the Phineas and Ferb fans, of which I count myself a member!
2. MonsterJam - Loads of fun for my girls.  Monster trucks really don't appeal that much to me, but my girls love them.  The drivers really are a hoot, however, and neat people to meet.
3. Baby and Kids expo - The 'MacaroniKids Publishing Moms of Greater Denver Metro Area' had a booth at the expo.  The girls and I swung by for a few hours and had a good time walking around.
4. Brian Kowalski Ships Out - A friend of mine, Brian Kowalski joined the navy this February so we said goodbye and good luck to the man.  He's a great guy and one I hope the navy doesn't change too much.  It was sad to see him go, but he felt it was what he needed to do and we all wish him the best.
5. Arionna was diagnosed with Dyslexia - And so we have been wroking on trying to help her out with different ways to teach her and get the assistance she needs at school.
6. Arionna Tested Out of Math - Yes, little Miss Dyslexia from above blew the math portion of the test right out of the water.  Without guidance she figured out multiplication, division, and in my office I've shown her simple algebraic formulas.  She has an amazing little mind with a quick grasp of abstract concepts.  So she has trouble reading, but she is certainly intelligent!

Employment Hunting

The job hunt continues apace.  Not much to report, other than rejections.  There was one position I really felt qualified for and called the recruiter up.  Sent in my resume and the recruiter said "It doesn't sound technical enough".  So, I adjusted the resume and after about the third back and forth the recruiter announced, "This looks perfect!".  The Hiring Manager's first response upon seeing my resume was "Appears too technical".  Sometimes you just can't win...

Well, that is all for this week.  I'm going to try to post a list of "upcoming events" at the beginning of the month.  If your at any of the events, let me know and we can meet up!

MagnaCon III

Been silent these past few weeks.  Need to get back in the habit.  I will admit the majority of my "blogging time" has been taken up by my other blog: Games Strategy and Tactics.  I'm posting three times a week there and between it and my job search, not much time left over for the personal blog.

This weekend, yesterday, we had MagnaCon III in Denver.  This event supports the Monday Night Gaming Group which meets at the Whittier Center.  All proceeds go to the Whittier Community Board to support the center.  Attendance was good, around 50-60 people.  Denver is a gaming mecca, having many groups spread out throughout the city.  Many of these people I know, but only manage to see once or twice a year, often at conventions.  Attending MagnaCon allowed me to mingle with these great people and catch up on their lives (Congratulations to Sarah and Travis on their upcoming new addition!).

The focus of MagnaCon is "epic" games: games which take a longer than usual time to play so they don't hit the table as often.  I saw Twilight Imperium (the very definition of "epic"), Starcraft: The Board Game, and many games of Eclipse.  Towards the evening the games shifted to shorter games: Chaos in the Old World, Discworld, Citadels and others.  Overall it was a great time!

Many people deserve credit for contributing to this year's successful event.  So, in no particular order: Dave Jones, Jeff Slagga, Nate Hayden, Eli Moreland, Brian Kowalski, Scott Lewis, and so many more.  I'd like to offer special thanks to the following people:

V.M. Livingston: The original 'founder' of MagnaCon, although she was unable to be involved this year.

Jeff Slagga (and Wife!): For picking up where Veronica left off and organizing a great event.  He shouldered the responsibility fo orgna

Dave Jones of Time Well Spent:  Dave both ran the dexterity games in the back (I'm awful at them, but many people love them...particularly the kids!) and offered many games as giveaways from his company: TimeWellSpentgames.com.  There were some great games offered and the raffle was probably the only time the room was in rapt attention!

Great job to all of you and I look forward to attending again next year!