Back to the Salt Mines...

Rather an unexciting weekend, though the Sabres won (twice!) and I got some solo plays in of Hold the Line. Most of the weekend I was growing more and more concerned with the growing lump on Cheyenne's head. It got to the size of a golf ball, and was quite worrisome. Gypsy, my "dog of a lifetime," died last year from effin' lumps -- mast cell tumors. So, seeing something like this grow on Cheyenne wasn't good for me.

Went to the vet's Monday morning, and she'd noticed it had grown since Friday -- not good. Decided to aspirate with a needle to check what was going on inside there via a biopsy. So she took a reluctant Cheyenne into the treatment room, and came back about 5 minutes later with...

...NO LUMP! Evidently, Cheyenne must have really whacked her head, as this was a huge hematoma. But it didn't even hurt her! Anyway, it collapsed when blood was drawn, and I got a call later in the day that all the vet found was "stagnant" red blood cells and a few white cells, all what one would normally find in a 5 day old bruise.

Whew...

A huge relief, I don't think I could have gone through all that crap again, especially with a seemingly healthy, happy, young dog.

In other news, the Sabres are 2-0, beating Montreal in a shootout Friday night and then crushing the Islanders on Long Island, 7-1 yesterday. I will be going to the Vancouver game this coming Friday, looking forward to it. I think this team has the skill and attitude needed to win in the NHL, and last year might have been the kick in the butt they needed to just get going. Let us hope...


In between bouts of moving, boxing, and cleaning up my "new" gameroom, I had Hold the Line out. I played one game of Hobkirk's Hill (American victory) and two games of Eutaw Springs (both British victories). Of course, solo play is, at best, something to do to relieve boredom (or take one's mind off dog issues), and this game definitely suffers when there aren't 2 playing -- plans take a while to unfold, ad it's very hard to be the attacker when the defender (also you!) knows exactly where the main attack is headed! But fun, all the same, as the game's quick and easy.

Class for "hematoma-less" Cheyenne tonight. I need a nap...

Back in the Swing of Things...

OK, my September resolution is to get Zyzzyva back on track, with at least 5 entries per week. I have a laptop I can use from home (though I still need to get a lot transferred over from my old desktop), the "beginning of the school year" hassles are winding down, and, frankly, I feel re-energized!

On Saturday, we had gameday at Millennium. I got there a bit late, and ending up watching Jack Morrell and Bill O'Neal play the Princeton scenario from Hold the Line. I have the game, but haven't played yet -- it looks to be right up my alley (quick and fun!). Bill's Redcoats hung on for the victory, as Jack was denied the Princeton hexes, right at the end of the game. While watching, a guy who found us on the Web came over to introduce himself. His name is Kevin Crowe (I think I got the last name correct), and he's been playing AH and SPI games for 30+ years. His old group of buddies has kind of gone their separate ways, so he decided to seek out new gaming friends. Since I started the Rochester Gamers in 2000, we've had so many stories like that...

Anyway, Kevin and I sat down to a game of Iwo Jima. As I'd yet to see a Japanese win, I offered Kevin the Marines. Of course, we'd been playing a rule wrong in previous games (U.S. armor and artillery need a beachhead to land -- we were letting them land without one!), so the Japanese won this one handily -- the Marines were raped on the beaches, and a beachhead wasn't established until Turn 5, which was too late. I felt bad, and hope Kevin comes back, LOL!

I went out for lunch at the Indian place a few doors down, then returned to Millennium and chatted with folks for a bit. Eventually, we got a 4-player Successors game going. It was a fun game EXCEPT for the fact that Marty Sample's favorite Atlantic Storm player whined and played sooooo slowly. Need to find a new 4th for the next game, or use chess clocks. It was excruciating. Anyway, I was dealt the 2 generals that controlled the Hellespont between them (both begin with "Ls") -- a nice starting position, but a dearth of troops. The first part of the game was spent securing territory, and I was doing all right, but was low man on the legitimacy totem pole. So I attacked a champion, becoming a successor, and shot up in VPs. As Turn 4 was ending, I grabbed Alex IV and had the highest VPs and Legitimacy, combined. One more round, and I could declare Alex IV the new ruler, with me as regent and the game win. But the "Treachery" card was played on me, I lost Alex IV, and the game went on. We called it due to time, and the player controlling a big army in Macedon (Jeff Heideman) probably would have won. A great game that could have been won by anyone, only marred by slow play and whining. I'm looking forward to playing this one again soon...

Well, Cheyenne's dropped off at doggie day care, the kids are arriving, so time for me to get into "school mode."

Yes, we're back!