Personal Stats Update mid 3rd Quarter

This post is probably more for my own interest as I have been recording my own media and reading stats for the second year in a row. I haven't taken much time to analyze how the stats compare between similar times last year, but I will take that time at the conclusion of the year. If it piques your interest here are the statistics October 1, 2021.

Movies watched: 11 Rewatch: 7                                                                                                                            First time: 4

TV series (streamed):
Episodes: 85
Rewatch: 20
First time: 65

Books read: 10
Graphic Novels: 4
Fiction: 6
Nonfiction:
Pages read: 1648

Books abandoned:
Graphic Novels:
Fiction: 1
Nonfiction:
Pages read:

Audiobooks: 1
Fiction: 1
Nonfiction:

Short Stories:
Pages read:

Comic books read: 116
Digital: 36
Print: 80

Book Titles:
Critical Role Vox Machina Origins Vol. 1 1/2
Legend of Zelda vol. 3 1/2
Legend of Zelda vol. 4 1/3
Legend of Zelda vol. 5 1/28
In Sylvan Shadows Book 2 Cleric Quintet by R.A. Salvatore
Catfishing on the CatNet 3/13
The Inheritance Games 4/20
Star Wars: Queen's Hope
Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim
Star Wars: Brotherhood by Mike Chen
Starlight Enclave by R.A. Salvatore (audio) 8/7/22

Movies:
Back to the Future 1/1
Back to the Future II 1/1
Back to the Future III 1/1
Encanto 1/8, 1/29
Hamilton 1/8
The Courier 4/9
Westside Story 4/17
Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness
Doctor Strange
Star Wars A New Hope 6/17
Thor: Love and Thunder 7/9
Sing 2 7/16

Series:
Book Of Boba Fett
Daredevil
The World According to Jeff Goldblum
National Geographic: Welcome to Earth
Hawkeye
Moon Knight
Stranger Things Season 3
Thundermans
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Ms. Marvel
The Wizard of Paws
Stranger Things Season 4
She-Hulk
Light and Magic

5 Take-Aways from Gen Con 2022

I finally made it happen!  After planning to attend my first Gen Con in 2020, two years later, I finally attended my first Gen Con.  It was an amazing experience and it lived up to all my expectations and more.  Here are my Top 5 takeaways from my first visit. 

5. The Indianapolis and the Indianapolis Convention Center are the perfect hosts for this event. 

I'm sure it is old hat to veterans of Gen Con, but for me being a first-time attendee and expecting 50,000 plus gamers/fans, I was a little anxious about the crowds.  Even though the vendor hall would get crowded, I never felt the crush of the crowd even on the largest day of attendance.  There is plenty of space between all of the different halls of the convention center.  In addition, the skywalks to three different hotels and the floor of Lucas Oil Field helped to make the convention seem personal but spread the events out to avoid crowding.  Also, having the Food Trucks outside on Georgia Street, right outside of the convention center, helped give another space for gaming fans to hang out.  

4. Food Trucks:  The management and selection of food trucks and other food and beverage vendors were exceptional.  This short half-block section of Georgia Street gave everyone an opportunity to step outside for a mask break and to grab a bite to eat and maybe even enjoy a beer or wine.  I took
advantage of all of the above.  The organizers scheduled three phases of food trucks to cycle through the day, so fans could go out for snacks or meals and find a different selection of trucks.  They also have stand-by, offical pizza, beer, soda and wine vendors for the event who were on hand all hours.  As an add-on for the Food Trucks on the street was the Friday night block party that just added more outside time and standing (after sitting most of the day), which is just what the doctor ordered at the end of day three for us.  

3. While gamers are an extremely diverse group of people, they are some of the most awesome people in which to hang out for four crowded days. I had the opportunity to sit down

with dozens of complete strangers to play games.  Everyone was totally open minded and helpful when trying to figure out how to play games.  Some, like me, were new to the games and we had the help of volunteers or other players at the table to figure out the mechanics and tricks of playing.  Another aspect I really appreicated, was that no one became agitated and some even were very welcoming when I just wanted to watch over the shoulder to see a game played.  One area that I really liked watching where the gamers were either totally immersed or gracious and welcoming were the Fantasy Flight Star Wars Legion players.  I kept reminding myself that we were all there for one thing, to play games.  In my case, I was there to learn games, but nevertheless all were great and made the experience fun for everyone.  

2. Fans of the Dragonlance setting and books are a passionate bunch!  I attended the book release of the newest Dragonlace book, Dragons of Deciet by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.  The authors were on hand to share their thoughts and stories of writing a new book for Dragonlance after some 25 years since the last book.  They also shared many stories of creating the Dragonlance world and struggles of getting the novel published.  Weis and Hickman are a charming pair and made the session a complete joy, but what really struck me was the passion of the fans.  When Hickman shared a video he produced to introduce the book, I was caught off guard when I realized that fans all around me were in tears.  I wasn't necessarily surprised that fans would be emotional, I was just caught off guard in the moment of a touching moment at this convention.  

1. The Games!  What else do you go to Gen Con for than the games?  What impressed me the most were all of the opportunities to play in several different settings.  If you wanted to get a flavor of a certain game, all you had to do was visit the booth of the company and you could catch a 5-10 minute demo of the game.  If you wanted to get a full playthrough, you could sign up to play the games with volunteers who knew the ins and outs of the games.  I didn't come across a single volunteer who struggled with this task.  If you were lucky, you could even walk-on to some of these full playthrough games without signing up like my good friend Ross and I did here to play Viticulture.  The last way to experience the games was to buy one and find a corner somewhere and play with friends.  It was an incredible experience of games, games and games!  

Now I am left wondering what I can do to make next year's Gen Con even more of a wonderful experience.  What will it take?  Bring more friends or family?  More detailed planning?  Schedule more games?  Later nights?  More impromptu playing in the halls?  Who know?  One thing I do know is that I will be back to Gen Con over and over again!  See you in Indy in 2023!

Simplify

Henry David Thoreau often discussed the idea that we need to simplify.  He lived in the early days of industrialism, and I can only think what he would think of our lives today if he thought we needed to simplify then over 170 years ago.  

I open with that because it has been quite some time since I have contributed to this space.   I could come up with lots of excuses like the end of the school year, Star Wars Celebration, working all summer, attending Gen Con, blah, blah, blah.  But seriously, as the picture that accompanies this post suggests, I tried to spend as much time simplifying and enjoying my hammock space outside this spring and summer. 

I spent quite a bit of time contemplating things while watching our twin, baby trees grow this summer.  I listened to a lot of music in the hammock.  I listened to a fantastic audiobook   I read many, many comic books in the hammock (yep, I took comic books into the summer heat and humidity).  I caught up on a lot of podcast episodes.  But most importantly, I grabbed up as much time as I could to clear my mind.  So, a casualty of so much alone time was my writing.  I also cut extra time thinking about and planning for the school year.  I cut out time that I would spend riding my bike on long rides.  I did not give my collections the attention that I normally would have.  I cut a lot of things from my life, even briefly, to help simplify my life.  

As I start to bring some things back, I start to feel a little bitter that it is stealing my time to think.  I feel that way because I am in conflict with the "fewer things" and things that I miss and love doing.  I am working to balance it, but writing is something I don't feel conflict with.  Writing and "Seeking Positivity in the Galaxy" brings me peace.  It helps me to process what is happening in and around my world.  

I appreciate those of you who have supported me and been encouraging me to write.  It may be a few and it may be a lot of you, but numbers aren't what is important.  What matters are the friendships and the support you give me to help me to simply simplify.  

2022 Coca Cola Kids Fantasy Baseball Team

We are a couple weeks into the new Major League Baseball season so it seems appropriate to introduce you to this year's Coca-Cola Kids Fantasy Baseball Team.  Established in 1988 as a National League Rotisserie Baseball Club, but then upgraded to an online team in the mid-1990s on Sandbox, the Kids enter their 34th season of fantasy baseball.  The Kids joined their current league, the League of the Gorgeous Rogues, in 2003 and took 7th place.  Since then the Kids won the championship twice in 2006 and 2013.  In 2021, the Kids shocked everyone in the playoffs to finish third, the only sub .500 team in the playoffs. They have finished last more times than they would like to admit, however.  Enough history, it is time to look forward to the 2022 baseball season. 

Each year teams in the league may keep up to three players from the past season. The Kids elected to keep: Brian Reynolds, Outfield, Pittsburg; Javier Baez, shortstop, Detroit; Kris Bryant, third base, Colorado.  Brian Reynolds quietly put together a good season last year and both Bryant and Baez are with new teams this year with promise to have really good years.   

Here is how the remainder roster shakes out after the draft: 

C:  Eric Haas, Detroit Tigers

1B:  Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds

2B:  Jonathan India, Cincinnati Reds

3B: Kris Bryant, Colorado Rockies

SS: Javier Baez, Detroit Tigers 

OF1: Luis Robert, Chicago White Sox

OF2: Brian Reynolds, Pittsburg Pirates

OF3: Cedric Mullins, Baltimore Orioles

Utlility:  Shohei Ohtani, Los Angels Angels

SP:  Lucas Giolito, Chicago White Sox 

SP: Robbie Ray, Seattle Mariners

SP: Tyler Mahle, Cincinnati Reds

SP: Yu Darvish, San Diego Padres

RP: Gregory Soto, Detroit Tigers

RP: Michael Kopech, Chicago White Sox

P:  Diego Castillo, Tampa Bay Rays 

P:  Marcus Stroman, Chicago Cubs

Bench: Chris Taylor, 2b, 3b, SS, OF, LA Dodgers; J.P. Crawford, SS, Seattle Mariners; Jarred Kelenic, OF, Seattle Mariners; Austin Meadows, OF, Detroit Tigers; Justin Steele, SP, Chicago Cubs; Yimi Garcia, RP, Toronto Blue Jays; Casey Mize, SP, Detroit Tigers. 

If you are counting, there are more players than our 23 man roster.  That is because three players are already on the 10-Day Injured List.  

At posting, the Kids are currently in 9th place (out of 10 teams) and are looking to use the benefit of a long season to catch up!  Anyway it turns out, it will be a great season of baseball.  

First Quarter of 2022 Personal Stats update

I am a couple weeks past due for this report, but here is the first quarter of 2022 "accountability" report for my Personal Stats of 2022!

I added a few things from 2021. Several people asked what books, movies, and series I had read. Once I turn the TV off, walk out of the theater or close the book, I just don't remember what I have read or seen (kind of sad, actually) at the drop of a hat. I guess I have moved on to the next thing! Anyway, at the bottom of the report, I have added that information. I also added a link from the 2021 First Quarter Report to see where I stood in comparison to approximately one year ago. If you have read or viewed any of the content I have experienced, I would love to hear your thoughts. Share in the comments below or reach out to me on Twitter: @draftline

Through April 13, 2022:

Movies watched: 7
Rewatch: 5
First time: 2

TV series (streamed):
Episodes: 34
Rewatch: 10
First time: 24

Books read: 6
Graphic Novels: 4
Fiction: 2
Nonfiction: 0
Pages read: 1039

Books abandoned: 0
Graphic Novels:
Fiction:
Nonfiction:
Pages read:

Audiobooks: 0
Fiction:
Nonfiction:

Short Stories: 0
Pages read:

Comic books read: 79
Digital: 22
Print: 57

Book Titles:
Critical Role Vox Machina Origins Vol. 1 1/2 (date finished)
Legend of Zelda vol. 3 1/2
Legend of Zelda vol. 4 1/3
Legend of Zelda vol. 5 1/28
In Sylvan Shadows Book 2 Cleric Quintet
Catfishing on the CatNet 3/13

Movies:
Back to the Future 1/1
Back to the Future II 1/1
Back to the Future III 1/1
Encanto 1/8, 1/29
Hamilton 1/8
The Courier 4/9

TV Series:
Book Of Boba Fett
Daredevil season 1
The World According to Jeff Goldblum
National Geographic: Welcome to Earth
Hawkeye
Moon Knight

Here is the link to my First Quarter Check-in for 2021  

Here is the link to the original Personal Stats post.  

New Logo!!

A benefit to working at a high school is that I work with a lot of talented people.  In this case, I am referring to the students I work with.  One of our advanced art classes does a unit on graphic design for business, and I asked the teacher if one of the students could help me with a logo for my blog.  

After emailing back and forth with the student a few times for her to get a feel for what my blog discusses, she sent me the first draft.  I liked it!  She nailed the "feel" for my writing, but I wanted a bit more visual.  I replied what I loved and asked for something that includes the feel of "galaxy" and "searching."  That is what I got!  What do you think?  I love it!

The positive that I want to share here is there is so much promise in our youth.  I know they get a bad rap about being constantly connected to their devices, and they catch a lot of heat for laziness or an "I don't care" attitude.  Let's remember that our youth learn by watching adults, and maybe we all could have a bit of a new look at our behaviors as well.  But don't fret, our youth bring talent to the table as they grow and mature, just like the generations before them.  I see it every day in their creativity, discussion, athleticism, drive, and positivity.

So, thank you to Heidi, for her hard work, creativity, and excellent listening to what I was looking for.  Seeking Positivity in the Galaxy now has a logo!  

Snow Days

When I was a kid, I loved snow days.  What kid doesn't love a surprise snow day from school?  I think, for me, it was less about missing a day of school and more about the opportunity to drop everything to head outside to sled, build a fort, or just goof around in the fluffy white stuff.  As an adult working in education, I still get to enjoy an occasional snow day, but they are enjoyable for different reasons.  

I love snow days now because snow is one thing that can slow people down or maybe even bring things to a halt.  Everything just kind of stops.  I don't hear cars rushing down the street early in the morning heading off to work.  If cars are going down the street it is slowly and quietly.  I love that a snow day lets me spend time with my family.  We are all relieved to not have hectic mornings of rushing around getting ready for the day.  We slow everything down.  We get to have meals together without someone missing or rushing out the door.  We get to talk to each other.  I get to watch my kids playing in the snow as I shovel the driveway.  In fact, with our last snow day, I shoveled much of the snow on the driveway into two large piles in the yard.  In one pile my kids dug a tunnel and "cave" to hang out in.  On the other pile, they created a small sledding path that ended up a "surfing" hill.  There aren't too many times in my day where I get to watch them having so much fun together.  The best is coming in and having some hot chocolate while laughing about all the dumb things that happened while surfing down the hill, "face plants," epic crashes, and distance records.  The snow day forces us to slow down to watch and listen to each other.  

Why do we need a snow day to do that?  Our lives are so packed from morning to night that many people that I see, myself included, rush around with no time to actually see other people.  I think it is evidenced by the number of people who constantly speed on the roads rolling right through stop signs and gunning it through yellow lights.  Sure, we see people and we might even get to work with people (that is sarcasm there), but how many times do we actually get to stop and talk with them beyond the "How are you doing?"  

I worked outside of education for about 10 years between being a student and becoming a teacher, and I never got a snow day.  There were plenty of opportunities for them, but my bosses never allowed it.  I didn't work in any crucial industry like public safety,  healthcare, or snowplowing, so I never understood why it was necessary to head into work when there are 6 inches or more of snow covering the ground.  It is too bad, because there are many mental health and family benefits to staying home on a snow day.  

A couple things come to mind.  If you don't get to enjoy a snow day, find ways to simplify a day at work or on a weekend.  I don't know how to suggest that, but we all know in our own worlds what can be put off or maybe even not started.  Shed things in your day, even just one day, to give yourself a chance to clear the fog and take a look around you.  Give it a try!  Give yourself and the people around you (family or coworkers) a surprise "snow day."  Give yourself and others around you a chance to look and listen to each other.  The benefits are great!  Enjoy a snow day!