Various stuff

This is a list of odds and ends, none closely connected to the rest:

• Saturday was awesome. Bonnie and I hit our favorite Ethiopian place in Montréal, Le Nil Bleu, with M. and Y. Then we hung out over coffee for a couple of hours afterward. It was really nice . . . kind of a short reprise of vacation life after a couple of weeks back at work and, perhaps more important, a couple of weeks of really frickin' cold winter weather.

• I continue to play too much Left 4 Dead. It hasn't lost its cachet yet. Indeed, that's what I did for most of the rest of the weekend. Again, I go by "Kromm" there, if you're looking to play a game. I reply to friends requests on Steam almost immediately.

• The Dawn of Magic group did meet this past Tueday. There will be a recap soon. It looks as if I'll be moving the write-ups to Saturdays for good, though, because that seems to be when I have the necessary time and energy. Writing several pages after midnight – after a full day's work and five hours of gaming – wasn't working out so well for me.

• I finally saw The Messenger (Luc Besson, 1999). I can't recommend it on the grounds of historical accuracy, good acting, or well-made cinema. I can recommend it on the basis of cute Milla Jovovich (at whom I could gaze all day) and depictions of gruesomely deadly medieval siege engines. Indeed, the latter was what got me to watch it, as it isn't unrelated to GURPS Low-Tech.

• I'll be away in Austin for work-related meetings from Tuesday, January 27 to Sunday, February 1. Depending on net access, I may or may not update this blog. We'll see! Even with a laptop, iPhone, etc., however, I'd appreciate it if my regular correspondents held e-mail during that period.