Old Friends

The List Game strikes again:

The Hammer and Stumper

A couple of weeks ago my dad demanded that we spend a Saturday ripping out the entire side patio, leveling it, and then re-laying it all over again. And all because he thought those rustic hills and dales were becoming dangerous. As usual with our home remodeling/landscaping endeavors, this patio isn't perfect—don't look at those lines too closely. It is masterfully mediocre though, and vastly adequate. And it was just waiting to be broken in with an event happening. 

Enter: The 3 Chickens. One mustard barbeque, one honey jalapeño, one bleu cheese stuffed buffalo. All three spatchcocked and brined. Grilling time: 2 hours.

Other benefits of this re-newed, re-leveled patio? It's finally flat enough to support a stump pile. I've been saving that top stump special.

We may not have the appropriate hammer but at least we've got these old timey nails. And the added excitement of tetanus.

This beer garden is really starting to come together. The Boot is already well established, and now The Stump? It's like Das kleine München over here. We're even on Foursquare.

Morning left-overs.

Sometimes you have to break out the big cards.

The Greyhound Lifestyle

Hanging out at a truck stop in Tomah. Drinking a High Life, playing Qrank, wearing a sweater. On a Thursday.

The Points: Data Driven Alcoholism

There's a new game in town. Or, there was a new game in town last November that hasn't yet jumped the shark. 

Goal: Earn more points than your friends/family members.

Play: Drinking before noon.  Every chance you can. 

Rules:

1. A player is to be awarded one (1) point for each drink consumed before 12:00 PM local time.

2. Drinks begun, but not finished, before 12:00 PM will also result in the awarding of one (1) point.

3. Drinks ordered before noon shall only be counted when begun before noon as well. If you cared about your standing in this game, you should have ordered it earlier or found a way to inspire faster service.

4. Drinks shall only be considered valid after a player has awoken with the intent of beginning the day. Drinks consumed at the end of an evening, regardless of the possible wee hour, shall not be counted.  Neither shall a drink(s) consumed during an inter-REM period. 

5. While on land or sea, a player shall be considered to have legitimately entered a new timezone at the moment in which they physically cross the internationally recognized timezone boundary.

6. While drinking in the air, a player will be considered to be in the timezone of their departure until one of the following has occurred:

      a. the player has entered airspace directly above, or has landed in, the timezone of which their flight or flight segment will touch down.

      b. in the case of overnight flights, the destination timezone shall be considered legitimately entered at the time at which the cabin lights are re-illuminated, thus simulating the dawn of a new day. NOTE: this is the lone instance in which a player may legitimately be considered in a timezone of which they are not physically in. Enjoy it if you can.

7. Although not required, drinks are traditionally named in an occasion appropriate manner. Strive to fit in.

The current tally has Evan & me battling it out for the lead. When you're ready to begin your own adventure just let me know, I'll add you your own personalized column. Don't be intimidated, even Katie is beating Taylor.

Crapples2Crapples: Update II

I've been meaning to get the latest update to Crapples out for months now. It's finally happening—Booster Pack #2 is headed to the printers in the morning. A couple of highlights you can look forward to in your Crapples2Crapples future:

Typed Trivia

Step 1: Choose your preferred edition of Trivial Pursuit™ (Genus II).

Step 2: Choose your preferred typewriter (Ezra Pound-Katie, Kevin Arnold-Whitney).

Step 3: Beginning with player on the left, draw card from front of deck, ask each of the 6 questions.

Step 4: All player type their answers as questions are read (N.B. points may be deducted for poor alignment &/or irregular margins).

Step 5: After 10 cards have been asked, pass answers to player on your right.

Step 6: Read answers aloud, allot 1 point for each correct answer.

Step 7: Lose to Whitney.

Round 1 - Head 2 Head Trivia (W-25, K-19)

Round 2 - Trivia 2.0: Back in the Habit (W-23, K-16)

Final Score: W-2, K-0

Crapples2Crapples: A Brief History

»April 17th, 2009: the as yet unnamed Crapples2Crapples is conceived over beers at the Silver Dollar, post-Apples To Apples play at The Terrace.

»April 23rd, 2009: Apples to Apples, v. 2.0 googledoc created and shared with original participants; inaugural entry now forever lost to history.

»August 20-25th, 2009: Logo Contest/Logo Selection

»September 1st, 2009: Five Crapples2Crapples sets arrive in 1 perfectly sized cardtub; Booster Pack 1 googledoc begun.

»September-December, 2009: Crapples begins making appearances across the nation [Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Crandon].

»December 22th, 2009: Booster Pack 1 arrives, full sets sent to Boston; Philadelphia. Crapples now located in 5 cities nationwide [Madison, Milwaukee, Iowa City, Philadelphia, & Boston]

»January 18th, 2010: Boston submits requests for 2 additional sets.

It's been a meteoric rise, all made possible by copyright infringement! What's next? Booster Pack 2, coming this spring to a city near you. A short preview of what to expect:

Words/Non-Words

There's been a little bit of a Scramble revolution in my life recently thanks to a certain chrome covered iPhone. I couldn't believe that I couldn't get a shitty version for the LG Dare, so I was glad to see that Facebook has me and my new addiction covered.

I'm still having a hard time accepting some of the included words of the Scramble dictionary though. Apparently my eclectic Scrabble dictionary knowledge is good enough to cause Barnebey family quarrels, but not enough to prepare me for the Scramble board. That mysterious evergreen shrub, KAT, I think I can handle, but FUNNER really gets me. I'm glad I guessed it anyway since it is actually a Scrabbler. Now I know.

But then there's TWAT. Not a Scrabble word. And should definitely be worth more than 2 points. What made me upsettest though was that I didn't play it, Katie did.

Saturday—now with more games.

In the continuing story of Games I Have Loved, Saturday in The Kee really brought something to the table. The afternoon got underway with a really satisfying round of Breakfast Scrabble over PBRs (I'm unemployed!) that Katie kicked off with LATTED. As in, "No, I'm fine. I just latted over at McDonald's, those McCafés are totally deck." And you can't argue with a game where you get to use HEROBEARS, my favorite kind of bears, and HIV-GLAZE. Ask for it at BW3s.

Next came bowling. We had a variety of skill levels involved, and half-way through the ball return started hoarding our balls. Regardless, the event was a great success due to the beer, the hand-scoring, and the sweet sweet jams that group of black ladies had put on. Conveniently, by the time the Alanis Morissette hour started up we were off to game #3—Crapples2Crapples.

This particular game was something of a watershed moment for Crapples. We've played our internet-cum-reality creation a couple of times now to cautious enthusiasm. Any festering doubts that it might not be as much fun as just reading the googledoc, or the distinct possibility that it would prove unaccessible to non-contributers, have been trampled thoroughly. By charging rhinos.

Game #4: Dancing!

A Proletarian Logo Selection

The time is nigh for voting. Below are the final 12 crappy entries in our Crapples to Crapples logo competition.

a. The Grumpy Crapple


b. The Skulls IV
 

c. I Dream of Crapples


d. Run Crapple, Run!
 



e. For Whom the Crapple Shits



f. I have a surprise for you...




g. A Warm Crapple Pie



h. Logo-a-gogo
 



i. Team Crapples



j. The Crapple in the Mirror (Make That Change)




k. Crappletini
 



l. There's a Turd in my toilet, Dear Crapple Dear Crapple.

poll by twiigs.com

I Want YOU... to draw a logo.

It's all happening. With 743 nouns and 267 adjectives our Crapples cards are ready to be printed, laminated, and cut. We have a preliminary design [see left]; but we're still in need of a logo. Something that says: "We're funny!", or "This game is almost exactly like Apples to Apples®, but not, due to copywrite infringement laws." Think of the glory—the fame! Your design on our new favorite game!

Submissions will be accepted at my email inbox until the 25th of August, or until whenever we go to the printers. Top submissions will be judged via online voting sometime next week.

P.s. Remember, logos need to work on both the red and green cardstock we're going to be printing on.

P.p.s. There's still time to add more items &/or descriptions.

P.p.p.s. Did you know the only skills needed for Apples to Apples are Social Skills?

Fest O' di Pesto

My oldest brother was born 32 years ago on Friday. Luckily I happened to be back in Philadelphia for a few days before we head up to a cabin in Pennsyltucky for the week. I'd missed the other brother (the stupid one)'s 30th birthday a couple of weeks ago, so I was glad I didn't have to forgo another event at the B²G². And this time I brought cheeseheads for all the Barnebey Boys! It wasn't an EEE, but we did have 3 varieties of pesto. Have you ever had a mint pesto? What about a cilantro? Highlights of the night included the wood grilled legs of lambs, the boots of beers, and Ben Sears (the backdoor neighbor)'s speech about how the rest of the world needed to be more like the Barnebey's side yard. I don't remember going to bed.

But today was also jumentous momentous. I bought a deck of cards that I'm pretty sure was manufactured sometime during the Truman administration. For 25¢! They're red and say Aries on the backs. There's even a special explainer card that lets you know that Aries are idealistic and enthusiastic. Then we came home and played several rounds of Euchre, over Yuenglings. Spell that 3 times fast. And Joanna called! We discussed how she had been ruining situations left &/or right for awhile now. She made a resolution to start choosing fun. The Play Density spread. I love Saturdays.