Another small step.

• This morning I showered, shaved, trimmed my beard, and got dressed by myself with almost no difficulty. I was even able to stand up off oxygen for a good portion of my shower. My pulse rate was through the roof, and my blood O₂ was down a bit, but I wasn't gasping like a fish out of water. Yay me.


• One thing I noticed while shaving is that I am seriously starting to go gray. Used to be I just had some Reed Richards-like patches of gray hair around my ears. Now I'm seeing it everywhere. I kind of like it, actually.


• Thoroughly scrubbed, clean clothes, I'm ready for today's adventure.


• We're going to Costco. Where I'm going to walk through the store.


• Don't worry, bringing my cane, and if I need to rest, I'll rest.


• We're also not going to do our usual wander around and look at everything plan. We'll have a list, and follow the list, and get out.


• A trip to the +5 Gamestore of Awesome is not out of the question.


• Giants are looking very good in Spring Training.


• It's always a good sign when players you know are going to start in the minors show up and play well against big-league pitching.


• This shows that we have a deep well of talent to call on if someone is injured or we make a trade and need to bring someone up.


• The biggest name is Brandon Belt, who is tearing up Scottsdale. This kid has an outside chance of making the Big League club after one year in the minors.


• Even if he doesn't start, he'll be clalled up before the All-Star break in July. He's that good.


• In even better sports news, the San Jose Sabercats are back!


• After the collapse and rebirth of the AFL, the 'Cats returned last night with a 78-48 drubbing of the Spokane Shock.


• Who cares about the NFL lockout? We've got the Fifty-Yard War!


• Still working (slowly) on my Pathfinder setting.


• Just picked up two books that will really help me with the details. The Middle Ages by Morris Bishop and The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History: Revised Edition by Colin McEvedy (Author) and David Woodroffe (Illustrator)


• Both look to be very good. Reviews to come.


• Along with that, I bought Lateralus by Tool. Mmmmm.. crunchy weird prog metal.

Fail, Win, and I resist temptation

Well.. we were going to go to Costco. But when we pulled in, there were two guys in safety vests waving everyone away from the parking lot to the other exit. Then we saw the sign. "Power Out." Sucks to be them, can you imagine the revenue they lose each hour they are closed on a Saturday?

But GameKastle is right across the street, and it was flea market day! Found The Ultramarines Omnibus for $5, Chez Grunt for the same, and Kiri snagged a Sandman book. I also found a guy who was liquidating his gaming books in favor of PDFs. A lot of Traveller stuff, including Ground Forces. I went into sneaky author mode.

"Y'know, I think this book is autographed."

"Really?"

"Well, it could be."

Nice dude, we have some friends in common.

From the main store I picked up the Pathfinder GM's screen. This may be my last hardcopy purchase. I love supporting my local game store, but for most things I just need the PDF. I may get the Bestiary in hardcopy, just so I can reference things during the game. One fun thing, there was a copy of Misfit Monsters Redeemed out of the shrink wrap. Along with having tongue firmly planted in cheek, they too the book as a challenge to make these really stupid monsters legitimate contenders. Sort of Gordon Ramsay's Monster Nightmares. This is on my want list, if only because I want to hit the party with Flumphs riding Flail Snails.

We did need food, and we could see that CostCo was still out of service. Smart & Final it was! Where I passed a display of minced garlic on special. I'm supposed to avoid garlic. It was a hard, hard thing, but I didn't grab a jar. I did get a news kind of salsa, Herdez Caesera. Allegedly hot. I appreciate the simple ingredient list (tomatoes, onions, serrano peppers, iodized salt and cilantro) but the result is weak, watery, and pretty flavorless. I'll eat it, because we can't afford to waste food, but disappointing.