First Father's Day: Good Stuff

Bloggin' on the DC metro via Blackberry...

A First Timer's
Father's Day

Well, the day started with feeding Taryn at 6:30 am because her and her mom
got off their nursing schedule a little so a bottle was nearly ready when
she finally woke up. I was to start the day feeling like a father.

Cool presents:
Sharon got me a photo of little Taryn in a desk frame that says "I love
Dad". She's looking right into the camera with a Mona Lisa smile. Sharon
didn't even know that it was one of my favorite pictures and that I had it
on my PC desktop. That was "perfect gift *
#1".

Perfect gift #2:
Star Wars RISK. Two things I really love in one box! Apparantly, my
two-month-old found out from Sharon that it was the only Star Wars item in
stores that I wanted. So Taryn used her Target gift card to pick it. She
could have spent that on diapers, but she spent it on me despite the fact
that her mother thinks I already have too Risk games (this makes 4*).

The shock came when I openned the box and it had printed in large bold
print "Classic Star Wars Risk Coming in 2006". Sharon was mortified to
think that I would want another game in less than a year. She knows me too
well. I suppose five versions of the same game that Sharon hates to play is
too much. She's probably right. If I got that version I would probably
neglect the Clone Wars version and thereby erode Taryn's sacrafice.

It was a great father's day. I spoke with Dad and Joe and they both seemed
to be having a great day too, which made me happy.

At church one of the speakers said that her father regretted subjecting his
kids to the trial of divorce. That hit home. I had never heard that thought
expressed like that before.

- Dan

* On the subject of Risk. I have owned this game a total of seven times
now.
1. Bought one in high school. This copy was destroyed when I left it at
Doug's and it was destroyed by a water bed leak.

2. Bought a copy in New Zealand. Money well spent. Missionaries,
preparation day and Risk were a potent combination. I left it there with a
missionary but I forget which one. I wonder how much laundry never got done
or letters never written because of my passion for Risk (probably not as
much as basketball).

3. Las Vegas/Texas copy: never made it out of Texas when I moved.

4. RISK 2250: so far my favorite and I've played it the most in the last
few years. The rules are the most complex and engaging of all the variants.
I call it RISK on steroids. It also has the easiest transition back to
regular game (should you want to play it) than any of the other knock offs
I've seen. The only downside is the 5 player max. This is the most
expensive version and it is worth every penny.

5. PS2 RISK: this great for RISK fix when you can't coordinate a long game
with all your best friends. Pros: a speedy dice interface; unlockable
customization stuff; and silly voices including a Sean Connery announcer.
Cons: the voices get annoying and there aren't enough rules variants

6. Lord of Rings Trilogy Risk: pros: great complex map that will stump old
Risk players. Cons: there are good cards but its hard to go through all of
them.

7. Clone Wars: TBD