Dungeons and Dragons Ponies??

From the office of "Things I Thought I would Never Need," comes a most adorable, fun, and unexpected surprise with a Crossover Collection of My Little Pony with Dungeons and Dragons.  This is a five-pony set of 4.5-inch pony's in a collectible box that includes an exclusive 20-sided dice, and a Dungeon Master's screen that declares, "Cutie Marks & Dragons."  Each pony wears a removable outfit that matches the class of each pony.  

There is Mysteria the Wizard, Shadowstar the Rogue, Valor Stronghoof the Barbarian, Spinner Talltalethe a Bard, and Woodheart the Kind a Druid.  The cost varies slightly between retailers, but it is listed at $74.99 on the Wal-Mart website. 

The price tag is a little high for my liking, but if the cost comes down, I will have a hard time keeping this set from my collection.  What can I say, I am a sucker for fun, cute things.  In addition, both of my daughters liked My Little Pony in their early days, and we had many of the 4.5-inch ponies running around the house.  There is a bit of nostalgia for me as it brings family memories in with my own hobby of Dungeons and Dragons.  I also appreciate the uniqueness and creativity of this set.  Who sat down and thought, "Let's dress the My Little Pony characters as D&D classes?"  I mean, seriously.  

Anyway, what a fun way to bring kids along for the ride with ponies and Dungeons and Dragons.  I wonder how far down the road a new D&D supplement will be that has stat blocks for playable miniature ponies.  

Fantasy Baseball Final: The Coca Cola Kids Break League Records!

The fantasy Baseball season has come to a close, and while the Coca-Cola Kids broke many league records, they did not have the best season ever.  The Kids lost their final week of the season 8-12, to take 8th place in the league playoffs out of 10 teams.  The shining star of the last week was Brian Reynolds of the Pittsburg Pirates batting .500 (11/22) with two doubles and three home runs.  He scored 6 runs and batted in six runners.  Shohei Ohtani batted .370 (10/27) with 2 doubles, 8 runs scored, and 4 RBI.  The pitching did not come through for the Kids in the final week.  

While the season ended about as successful as a flat tire, the Coca-Cola Kids did end up with some dubious records set for the league.  The Kids now hold the following records for the league: 

Most Pitching Losses for the season: 68

Most Hits allowed in a season: 890

Most Walks in a week:  34 

Most Walks in a season: tied 311

It is pretty apparent that the draft strategy last March was to grab as many everyday impact players.  While that may not have exactly panned out, the Kids did hold their own offensively throughout the season.  Not having an ace and a top-notch closer really showed in the standings.  

The management of the Coca-Cola Kids has a lot to ponder this offseason.  Maybe a little more draft research and strategy will make for a more competitive team next year. 

Funny Things We Hear

Thanks to my good friend Colby Mead for the topic of this week's post.  On a recent episode of Colby's podcast, The ColbyCast (episode 52 to be exact), Colby and his son Caleb discuss their favorite movies, but it is the discussion before the movie talk that caught my ear.  The father and son duo were discussing Caleb's Labor day weekend coaching hockey, and Colby mentioned a humorous conversation he heard at a hockey tournament one time.  Coming out of an ice rink, he heard one boy say to another in
passing, "Did you hear Carson fractured something?"  Colby mentions while he hopes Carson is fine (whoever Carson is) that the comment was "on point" to something you might hear at an ice rink. And in my shoes, seems like a humorously "on point" comment, and I agree, I hope Carson is fully healed now and helping his team to many victories.  

That story made me think about some "on point" comments that I hear on a fairly regular basis that are just humorous when either taken out of context or when they are, as Colby mentioned, on point. 

I will never forget, early in my daughters' gymnastic careers, them talking to friends in the back seat while I was driving them home talking about how big so-and-so's rip was.  I remember thinking, rip?  Like a rip in their leotards????  Or did they mean to say, "Did you see the rip in a certain mat, or I didn't know what!?  I discovered that a "rip" is a nasty open blister that appears on the hands of gymnasts from doing the bar event.  They often will callous, but when the callous is stretched or "ripped" it becomes quite painful and nasty to look at for a gymnast dad.  So if you hear a gymnast discussing a "rip," it has nothing to do with an outfit, bad gas, or damaged gym equipment, it is totally worthy of your sympathy
and admiration that they just keep swinging with those hands pain or no pain.  

If you hang out in my crowd of people, you may hear one of us threatening that "you just might die the next time we get together."  Out of context, someone may want to file a police report, but then you might realize that one of us is the Dungeon Master of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign and the other person's character has probably made some bad decisions.  Not to worry, someone may die, but it is "just" someone's D&D character.  

In the library, I heard some kids whispering the other day that someone wanted to get a book, and the other kid mentioned that you just go up to the counter to "rent" the book from me.  While I would be happy to rent books as a fundraiser for the library, I informed the students that they can check them out rent-free.  

I realize that sometimes life just flies by, and we miss a lot of things that are on the periphery of our awareness.  Stop to listen from time to time and like my friend, Colby, you just might catch something that is so "on point" or just a bit out of context, that it will make you smile or even laugh a little bit.  

Running

I've never been much of a fan of running.  I realize this is a rich comment coming from someone who had a time in his life when he ran several triathlons, marathons, and half-marathons.  I am here to say it was less about the running and more about being able to say, "Done it."  I wasn't winning anything; I was just competing against my personal best time.  

But now I get to look at running from a new lens, and that lens is that of a father.  My youngest daughter signed up for cross country at her school this fall.  It is the first time she, or anyone in our family, has ever attempted this sport.  My older daughter did track last year, but I'm here to tell you, cross country is a different animal.  

Unfortunately for my daughter, she got her dad's ability, and cross country is more about finishing and trying to reach small wins.  Like her dad in his races, she isn't chasing a leader.  But, what is amazing to me, is this child doesn't really seem to care.  She is just loving being a part of these crazy kids who want to run 2 miles as fast as they can.  She loves the friends she is making, and quite frankly, she loves her pack.  And, I love that!  

As young parents, we have dreams of the great things our children will do.  We imagine Olympic medals or top CEO jobs, but it is amazing to watch all of the leading kids race by, and 5 or 6 minutes later comes my daughter, and that brings tears of joy to me.  I am so proud of her in her school uniform just working her ass off.  It is amazing.  I hope all dads get to experience this sometime in their daughters or son's lives.  It may not be in cross country or even athletics.  But to watch my daughter putting it all out there is just amazing.  

To find positivity in the galaxy, we don't have to look very far.  It kind of scares me as a dad that I will miss these moments.  Both of my kids and if you have children too, we know they do amazing things all the time.  Stop and watch.  I am so thankful for my daughter and thankful that she decided to give cross country a try.  Even though it is impossible to see it all,  I try to catch all the cool things my kids do, but I am glad my daughter caught my special attention when she started running.  

2022 Coca Cola Kids Fantasy Baseball update: It isn't pretty

Let's just say, there is no joy in Cola-ville this season for the Coca-Cola Kids baseball club could never
get it together.  The playoffs have begun and, well, the Kids didn't make it.  They will head to the consolation bracket, so maybe they can finish at the top of that.  They finished the regular season in last place in their division and 8th out of 10 in the league. 

Individually, several players have had nice seasons, but no one seems to have been willing to carry the team. Here is the current roster of the Coca Cola Kids: 

C:  Sean Murphy, Oakland A's

1B:  Nathaniel Lowe, Texas Rangers

2B:  Christopher Morel, Chicago Cubs

3B: Ezequiel Duran, Texas Rangers

SS: Eugenio Suarez, Seattle Mariners

OF1: Aledmys Diaz, Houston Astros

OF2: Brian Reynolds, Pittsburg Pirates

OF3: Cedric Mullins, Baltimore Orioles

Utlility:  Shohei Ohtani, Los Angels Angels

SP:  Lucas Giolito, Chicago White Sox 

SP: Yu Darvish, San Diego Padres

SP: Triston McKenzie, Cleveland Guardians

SP: Marcus Stroman, Chicago Cubs

RP: Gregory Soto, Detroit Tigers

RP: Erik Swanson, Seattle Mariners

P:  Jason Adam, Tampa Bay Rays 

P:  Jordan Montgomery, St. Louis Cardinals

Bench: Jonathan India, Cincinnati Reds, 2B; Chris Taylor, Los Angeles Dodgers, 2B, 3B, SS, OF; Wilmer Flores, San Francisco Giants, 1B, 2B, 3B; Riley Green, Detroit Tigers, OF; Miles Mikolas, St. Louis Cardinals, SP. 

In some cases, the Kids have been attempting to pick up youth for next year in the case of Morel, Duran, and McKenzie.  In other cases, the Kids have picked up some veterans hoping for a resurgence in numbers like Suarez, Soto, and Darvish.   Nonetheless, it has been a rough year for the Kids.  We will report back in at the end of the playoffs with a final report.  

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!