cislocative and lunatopaz are running away to the other coast, and we had to get one last weekend in before they did, so we converged between their home in keene and ours in kittery and landed in tilton mass, at a cabin on lake winnisquam (which is very hard to spell). we stayed at a place that had about 25 cabins, three beachfronts just for guests, free use of canoes and kayaks, and lots of games. the cabin was cozy but just fine for four, and very reasonably priced. spent time paddling, playing horseshoes, and just lazing around most of the days, and then both nights, we ended up at Funspot, one night just to play skeeball and games, and one night for candlepin bowling (and more games). They pride themselves on their classic arcade games, and they had a lot that I used to play on gaming systems that I've never seen as arcade games, like Karate Master and Space Invaders, and some we used to play as kids like Mappy and Dig Dug and Dragon's Lair (which was the fanciest one at the Fun Zone, where I used to play). Had acceptable mexican (at El Jimador) and diner food (at Cafe Deja Vu), and made our own salads, spring rolls, and pancakes.

On the way home, I basically just slept. Upon wake-up #1, mthgeek had steered us toward Moat Mountain, where we stopped for beer and fries. By then, we were close enough to Lovell Maine that we had to go to Ebenezer's Pub. This place is amazing. Everyone who likes beer must go. Lots of things Tim had never heard of, pages and pages of beers in bottles plus 35 on tap, very good frites with aioli (yes, we had fries and beer for lunch twice today).

We have a lot of travel coming up in the next few months to far away places. Next up is a scrabble day at our place next Saturday, then I'll head to CT for Scrabble, then a weekend off, then big Scrabble (35 games, 300+ players) in Dallas. But, it's really cool to have so many great things within a couple hours' drive of home.

I just completed the most boring training ever in the whole world. I learned two useful keyboard shortcuts, and spent most of the rest of the time organizing my inbox. Trainings should be given based on user computer ability. People who know how to retrieve windows that they have minimized should be separated from those who think their windows have just disappeared into a void. Whatever. Today is likely to be a lost day at work anyway, since tomorrow is a day off and I have no student meetings. I'll spend all day waiting for it to be my day off.

I'm addicted to this stupid iPod game called Trism. It's basically a screen of triangles in a grid. You slide triangles of different colors around on a grid, and when three match up, they disappear and the rest slide to fill their spots. It's gravity sensitive, and I can play it for hours. Bad. It's in my bag right now, calling out to me to play it at work.

Saw the Wedding Singer yesterday. Fun, uplifting, definitely regional theater-quality. One actor who was particularly good, and one dancer, and everyone else was just fine for what it was, but nothing to write home about. The makeup and wig choice on the lead woman was all wrong, and distracted me for most of the show. Before the show, we ate lunch at the Red Arrow Diner. We sat at the counter and ate the greasiest food ever, topped off by coconut cream pie. I was too full to eat dinner.