Review: Agricola

Last Thursday, when the board game Agricola was released in the U.S. with the English rules translation a very significant thing happened. For the first time in many years, a new title became the highest rated board game of all time. Now these ratings are based on the website Boardgamegeek.com. Over 2000 people rated Agricola and based on its average score, it overtook Puerto Rico as the highest rated game. To people who follow the board game industry, this is a very big deal. For years Puerto Rico was looked at as the epitome of perfection and now a new champ had been crowned.

Personally I have been waiting nearly a year for this game to be translated and released in the United States. It was a wait plagued by delays and unbearable anticipation. Starting in June I started saving my pennies, skipping lunch on Fridays so I could put money away to buy this monster. Even with my 30% discount from the store, I was going to need $50.00+ to pay for this game and I intended to have it the first day it was released. Well, Thursday I got my copy.

Let me explain a little bit about the board games I tend to favor. I like imported games (many of the best are conceived and released first in Germany) and most of the top games on the BGG list are from Europe. Agricola is one of those. The Euros (as they are typically known) are generally based on strategy and not luck. There is very little randomness and often times requires the players to manage multiple aspects of the game at one time. Additionally Euros tend to reduce the amount of direct conflict you experience with other players. In opposition, American games generally use a lot of dice, are linear (roll, move, do what the space on the board tells you to) and have much more conflict (think games like Monopoly where you are taking other player's money or Sorry where you are sending your opponent's pieces back to their starting areas). Euros are very cerebral and take great deal of thought and pre-planning. They require you to look a bit into the future and determine the course of action you are going to take. Finally, Euro games tend to be extremely high quality with wooden (as opposed to plastic) pieces, heavy card stock and beautifully rendered artwork on the boards.

Agricola (pronounced Ah-GREEK-ola) is a prototypical European game. It has tons (100s) of wooden playing pieces in multiple colors. There are more than 300 cards with individual artwork on each card. Additionally it comes with multiple boards that are configured to form the main game board (with individual player boards to track your own progress). The gamer is stunningly beautiful and the quality makes it well worth it's $70.00 retail.

Agricola is basically a game about being a farmer in the 1700s. You start the game as a humble farmer and his/her spouse, with a plot of land and a two room wooden hut. The object of the game is to build up your farmstead, bringing prosperity to your family while struggling at times just to feed them. Each turn you get to take one action per family member. These actions range from plowing fields, building livestock pens, chopping down trees for wood, building on to your house, sowing your fields, or even fishing. As the game progresses you can expand your family, having up to 3 children who can then be put to work through to performance of additional actions. The caveat there is the fact that you have to feed each of your family members or resort to begging for food if you can't put the chow on the table. Furthermore, the only way you can have children is by adding on to you house, which requires more wood, reed (for the roof) or even clay or stone if you choose to upgrade your humble abode.

The game is about balance. It is also about understanding what you want to do and concentrating on that plan. While there is no direct conflict, there are opportunities to screw your neighbors by taking resources they had planned on utilizing. There are many different ways to win, be it by becoming a rancher and filling your pastures with sheep, cows and wild boar, or planting your fields and harvesting grain, afterwards sending it to the ovens to be converted to bread.

The game itself is won based on victory points accumulated by the expansion of your homestead. Each head of cattle, each planted field, each unit of grain or vegetables, each family member, even each room in your house counts towards the victory conditions. Failure to upgrade or fill you fields, or raise particular animals results in penalties that lower your score, so spreading yourself out and diversifying in the name of the game.

Agricola is very complex in what you can do, but fairly easy to learn. My first game was a disaster, as I was so preoccupied with feeding my family that I never properly built the infrastructure to do so consistently. I would sooner send my farmer to the fishing hole to catch dinner than send him to the field to plant grain that would continue to produce food long after I decided to ignore it.

Agricola is a learning experience. It is intense and enjoyable at the same time. There is a certain amount of initial frustration that goes into trying to get your food machine running, then a varying degree of frustration that comes with trying to expand you farm without out growing your food production capabilities.

Overall Agricola is simply brilliant. There are certain aspects of Puerto Rico and Caylus present in the game. There is a bit more luck involved in Agricola (the cards do this but also means that no game will ever be the same, something Puerto Rico and Caylus can't always claim). The game flows well with very little player downtime. Even with some downtime, most of it is utilized trying to figure out what your next step it. The game zips by in a hurry, but not so much as to seem frenzied.

I would recommend Agricola to anyone who has played some of the heavier hitting Euros (Puerto Rico, Caylus, Powergrid, or Goa). I would recommend it to others as well, but not without first playing it with someone who has had access to it previously. The rules can come off as complicated and the shear mass of pieces and cards can be quite intimidating. The game however starts to take off immediately and it isn't difficult to understand why this games, above all others has assumed the title of King of Boardgames.

Questions and comments are always encouraged.

End of Summer

Well, it is officially the end of summer. This morning Angie took Grace to school so she could start the 1st grade. Wednesday we drive Megan down to Muncie where she will begin her sophmore year. Balin, well he's just going to stay at home and keep growing eating and growing some more.

Gracie was a bit nervous this morning and didn't really want to go to school. I think she was worried about chaning to a different teacher and not having friends in her class. Well, her worries were without merit and there were at least a couple of her friends in her class. I think, like kindergarten, she will fit in immediately and really start to enjoy school again. I think she is going to be a very good student. She is such a smart little girl and when she sets her mind to it, works extremely hard.

As I drove in to work this morning the news came on and mentioned that Fort Wayne Community Schools was investigating breaking up the high schools in town and making them into magnet schools. Now, Grace is in a magnet school now, and Angie and I both love it and know that Grace will continue to enjoy going there. For those who don't know what a magnet school is; it's a school that has a concentration in a particular field. Croninger, Grace's current school is a communication magnet and provides kids with opportunities they wouldn't normally get at a typical school. They are already teaching the kids Spanish and they have a fully functioning television studio where kids learn broadcasting. They also put a huge focus on public speaking, giving kids skills they normally don't receive in elementary school.

So, from what I've heard they are looking at breaking up the high school by focus. Snyder, the high school Grace is slated to go to and the one closest to our house would become a medical magnet, giving extra attention to the hard sciences and offering classes they currently don't/can't. Other schools might be social science magnets, or business magnets, or other type of schools. Frankly, I think this is a great idea and even if we were forced to take Gracie to school so she could get the applications best suited for her eventual goals, it would be worth it.

I feel lucky to have gotten through high school and still be able to progress through college. I want that same thing for my children. Working for the two years for Southside coaching debate gave me an idea of how good Fort Wayne schools actually were (compared to the extremely limited curriculum of Woodlan) and as much as I would like to move back to the country, I would still want Gracie to stay in FWCS. It offes a whole lot more and as bias as I may seem, I think Gracie is going to be extremely special. She is such a beautiful girl and is extremely smart. I really want to provide as many doors for her to open as I can and FWCS seems to do that.

That said, I also need to think about Balin, who is also going to be a smart one. Balin is slotted in to Croninger without me having to run him through the lottery like Grace was. I certainly don't want to lose my spot there becuase it is (studies and indicated this) the best elementary school in the county.

Anyway, today is a big day. Wednesday will be even bigger and then we fall back into our routine. So is life. Before we know it we will be celebrating Balin's first day of school and Gracie will be driving. Oh how fast time flies.

Book Review: The Sleeping Doll

I haven't done a book review in awhile so I figured now would be a good time to do one. This time I'm taking a look at Jeffrey Deaver's most recent paperback release, called "The Sleeping Doll".

Deaver is one of my favorite authors and his characters Lincold Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are two of my favorites of all times. That said, whenever Deaver creates a new character I get a bit anxious wondering if he can capture the same degree of complexity that he has in those two.

I got a bit of a taste of Kathryn Dance in one of his previous novels (The Cold Moon) and frankly was really excited about reading this book. The Sleeping Doll plays off of my love for communication arts in that the heroine is a kinesics expert. What is kinesics? It is the ability to read someone based on their body language. Kathryn Dance is n interrogator who uses her kinesic reading skills along with her knowledge of paralanguage (voice inflection, tone, attitudinal shifts, etc.) to basically serve as a human lie detector.

In this book, a Charles Manson wannabe escapes from prison and manages to elude Dance using his abilities of manipulation and control. He is the perfect mirror of Dance in that he too can read people and uses this skill to control his victims.

The book is extremely fast paced, yet often cerebral. I would say it is a notch below the Lincoln Rhyme novels in it's complexities, yet still makes my mind race with thoughts of learning even a smidge of the skills Dance displays. Sadly, the parts of the book that deal with her skill sets are few and far between, which is a bit disappointing. It kinda reminds of that television show Numb3rs which is about a math genius that helps his FBI brother solve crimes. The numbers part is often secondary to the actual episode. It was the same for me in this book. That's however is not to say that the book was bad, it wasn't. It was a very good book and quite enjoyable, just not on the same plain as what my expectations were.

The criminal in this book is brilliant, though not flashy like many of Deaver's villians. I liked that quite a bit because it brought a bit more realism to the story. The Bone Collector and the The Conjuerer were great criminals in his other books, but they brought about a sort of otherworldly quality, something you would see in a comic book, not a newspaper. Daniel Pell, the killer in the Sleeping Doll, was pure evil, nothing more.

The book centers on a murder (ala Charles Manson) that occurred many years before. The only person in the house that survived was a girl dubbed the Sleeping Doll, due to the fact that she had survived the attacks because she was asleep in a pile of stuffed animals and dolls, overlooked by the killers as they were murdering her family. The perpetrator of the killings has escaped from prison and it is up to Dance and her team to figure out why he is sticking around Monterey and not fleeing. He leads her on a chase, seemingly one step ahead of her at all times. Occasionally it will seem as if he is putting distance between them, but then Dance figures out his plans and manages to foil one of his many objectives.

The book is good, it moves along and is a story well told. I have one bone to pick however. Deaver loves twists, and this story has those. One in particular is the basis of the whole story and he does an excellent job hiding this untl the very end. There is another one, however that grinds my nerves. I won't say what it was, but I didn't feel it was necessary and while it deals with Dance and her relationship with another character, it is extremely clunky and doesn't fit well in the story. Furthermore it serves no real purpose other than to drag a couple more chapters out of the book, something it doesn't necessarily need.

I would recommend The Sleeping Doll for anyone who likes crime dramas. It was a good book with great characters and excellent pace. I was left wanting to read more about Kathryn Dance, which is a good thing in my opinion. If I had to rate it, I would say the Sleeping Doll rates a solid 4 out of 5.

Stuff that's happening

Sorry about not writing over the last couple of days. I have a job that is basically mundane except for two times a year when I have an independent auditor come in a check out my plant, writing non-conformances if the quality system is lacking. Well, yesterday was one of my audit dates. I used most of the earlier part of the week getting ready and really didn't have time to write. Now I have a bit of time, so expect a posting or two over the next couple of days.

Okay, we had a pretty exciting evening on Tuesday. One of the things we tend to do in the evening is go outside to sit in the driveway or play in the cul de sac. It is nice because there is next to know traffic and the neighbors across the street bring their little girl out so she can play too. The kids ride bikes, ride powerwheels (the neighbor has three of them) play ball or other fun things. Well, the Delaney (the girl across the street) has a bike without training wheels and we decided to let Gracie ride the bike without them. It was amazing how quickly Gracie figured it out. In less than ten minutes we were able to teach her how to ride a bike. Now, she's still a bit wobbly, and she has some panic issues when she is getting too close to the curb, a car or other people. Additionally, I took the training wheels off her bike and because it is a bit larger than the neighbor's bike, she loses confidence. I don't think it will take long for her to get that confidence back though. I also think she will really start to like riding bikes once she gets comfortable.

Balin is turning in to a little monster. He loves being outside. He also knows how to open the door going out to the garage. This has led to issues as he occasionally will wander outside on his own. When he does get out he typically heads for the cul de sac (the place where we play in the evening). This is a bad thing and leads us to have to keep a close eye on him. He is also belligerant when it is time to come back in the house. He screams and cries and throws a tantrum. It is getting old fast.

One of the things we need to do is get the kids back into a routine. Grace and Balin both have been thrown off a schedule during the summer. With school starting next Monday this should get better. Hopefully Angie gets the job she is interviewing for (as I write this as a matter of fact) which would allow us to send the boy back to the sitter which again would establish a schedule. Grace will start going to bed at 8:30 again and we will have at least an hour and a half of peace at our house before we go to bed. I look forward to that.

Megan has two more days of work and then she is quitting to enjoy a few days off before she becomes a fulltime college student again. She is really starting to get excited. I think she is ready.

Well, that's about it for an update. I will make sure to send out a couple more posts later on.

Megan's Journey

It is quickly coming to the time where Megan starts her true journey into adulthood. She's almost 20 years old, but she has largely been dependent on Angie and I for all those years. On the 20th of August she officially leaves for college, to explore the world of responsibility on her own.

Megan is really excited about going, and for good reason. This is a very exciting time. I've told her countless times that my college years were and continue to remain the best years of my life. I think that she will enjoy them too.

Personally I'm very excited for her. I feel myself getting wrapped up in all of her preparations. I can't go in a store without wanting buy something for her to take to college. Last night I went grocery shopping, just to pick up a few things for the house and ended up buying a bunch of groceries for Megan to take to school. I figured she could use them. I bought he microwavable macaroni and cheese, cans of soup, ramen noodles, microwave popcorn and microwavable fettucini alfredo. I wish I could have bought more, but I didn't want to go overboard. Besides, Angie wants to be involved in the buying process as well and she was at home.

A couple of weeks ago we went out on our anniversary and ended up buying her all kinds of stuff. We got her a nice refrigerator, a hot pot to heat up water or soup, an electric sandwich maker so she could cook grilled sandwiches in her dorm room, some dishware (including silverware) and a bunch of other little things.

I think this whole college thing is confusing her because we took her and Grace out to buy supplies for school and she just got frustrated. She doesn't know what to expect so she doesn't really kow what to take. It is actually pretty funny. She wasn't going to take her stereo and I asked her why? She really couldn't give me an answer. I told her that she could listen to music at college and she could take it with her, but frankly I don't think she really could picture having her most precious music with her. It's almost like she is packing to go on vacation, when in fact she's actually moving away. I can conceivably see her coming home a week after getting there just to get the stuff she figured she shouldn't take but now realizes she needs.

As far as prepping for classes go, I think she really has her work cut out for her. College is like a fulltime job. It really is something that should be spread out over the five weekdays with catchup time spent on the weekends. Not Megan, she is taking 5 classes but all of them are on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. She liked the idea of having a couple days off during the week. I told her that she has to be careful and not burn herself out because she will be spending all day on her "days off" studying. Five classes is a pretty decent class load and to have them all crammed into three days is quite a task. Oh well, time to let go and let her learn. It's funny, I will always contend that personal management was the most useful skill they teach you in college. I guess Megan is about to learn that first hand.

I haven't admitted this, but as happy as I am to see her go, I'm going to miss Megan. With her hours now I don't see her much, but for the most part she has always been good to have around. I think however that this is a tremendous opportunity for her, one that she will cherish. Besides that, I think it will teach her little sister a valuable lesson too. I want Gracie growing up wanting to push herself to higher degrees of learning. I think Megan will serve as a good example.

This is an exciting time. I will have the opportunity to live vicariously through Megan, and that is a good thing. I harken back to my college years and wish they would have never ended. It makes me happy that I had those days and that now my daughter will get to experience the same thing.

My Views on the Death Penalty Revisited

When I was driving home yesterday I listened to the radio and the talk show host who I listen to, Pat White, had a discussion about a man named Jose Medellin who, along with five others, tortured, raped and murdered two young (16 and 14) year old girls in Houston back in 1993. You can read a summary of this horrible crime by following this link. I wanted to post this particular version because I believe it paints a better picture of the crime than the vanilla newspapers and news broadcasts which tend to clean up the details in order to protect the viewer/reader.

Anyway, this scumbag was put to death yesterday for his crime yet controversy erupted from this. You see, Medellin was not given access to the Mexican Consulate during his trial or subsequent incarceration. Because Medellin was born in Mexico and moved to the US when he was 3, he was still technically a Mexican citizen and by virtue of the Treaty of Versailles, was eligible for this Consulate access. The lawyers attempted to stop the execution based on this loophole and actually took it to the Supreme Court where a split decision ruled that the World Count nor the Federal government could prevent the Texas State Courts from carrying out the sentence. Medellin was put to death around 9:00pm last night.

Now, you are probably asking, where is Lonnie going to fly off the handle and start spouting diatribe about the death penalty. Well, I'm not. I'm going to say simply that I support the Death Penalty. Some will say two wrongs don't make a right. I believe this is true. But, like putting down a animal that savages a child, I also believe that it is a legimate, humane penalty to carry out against a human being. Okay, that's it on that subject. Now the jist of this whole discussion.

It took 15 years for Medellin to die and I think that is way too long a time to wait. Furthermore, his execution was nearly held up because of this loophole concerning his Mexican citizenship. The Death Penalty is a horribly inefficient form of punishment. It is expensive and takes an incredible amount of time and resources. We need to do it better. I think that lawyers need to be held responsible for the defense that they offer their clients. This whole mess with the Consulate could have been avoided if the public defender had done his job and made it known to the defendent that this was an option. I believe that Mendellin deserved a defense, as indefensible an act it was that he committed. I want the scum of the earth to exhaust every possible option they have, but they need to do so in a less time consuming way. I think the attorneys should bear the responsibility for making this happen. The two girls who died in this horrific crime didn't have those 15 years. Had they, perhaps they would be wives, have children, have enjoyed college, the beginning of a rewarding career. Hell, they would have had a chance to graduate high school!

Stuff like this really bothers me. I makes me sick to think of something like that happening to Megan or Grace or even Balin. Why do I support the death penalty? Because if something happened to one of my children like what happened to those beautiful girls, death for the people responsible would be the only acceptable punishment. Plain and simple. We should never have the luxury of allowing ourselves to be lenient and forgiving of the monsters that destroy other's loved ones if we can't be lenient and forgiving if they do the same to those we love.

Finally, an MSN.com article contained the following:

In Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, where Medellin was born, a small group of his relatives condemned his execution.

“Only God has the right to take a life,” cousin Reyna Armendariz said.

This struck me as one of the most ridiculous statements I'd ever read. This idiot believes that only God has the right to take a life, yet she supports a man who stomped the thoats of two innocent teens. Some people just don't get it.

Welcome Back: ME!

Hello everyone. It has been a long time since I updated by blog, but I finally feel comfortable writing again. Things have been a bit crazy, both at home and here at work and frankly, I lost the ambition to write. I know that there are a few of you that read this and really enjoy reading what I write, so I am going to try and be a bit more dilligent about writing again.

HINT: posting comments really makes me happy and is evidence that someone is really reading this and would encourage me to continue writing. I love feedback, call it ego if you like.

Anyway, I'm back and will try to post once or twice a day, as long as I have ideas filling my thick skull.