Along time ago my best friend was a car fanatic… still is.  His dad saved up and bought a Ferrari… when turned 16 he drove a classic Triumph Spitfire.  Me, – my childhood is for another day, but I learned a lot hanging around with his family.  I learned such things as electric drills work a lot better when switched to “forward” not “reverse.” I learned a little about cars in general, but I never considered myself a “car guy.”  In 2005 I bought my first MINI.  In 2006 I bought my second.  While not a car guy, that was something I liked about the car, the owners were diverse and you didn’t have to be a car guy to be a part of the community.  Most people don’t talk look down upon you if don’t know anything about cars and they even talk to girls like they have brains. Since then I’ve done been evangelical about the MINI and the community that surrounds it.  Last weekend Sue and I headed north to Road America to watch the MINI John Cooper Works Racing Team.  We’d been there once before for MINI takes the States in 2008 and Sue was able to drive a parade lap.  This weekend it was time to watch the experts.

As with many adventures it started off with stopping along the way at some favorite places.  Fair Oaks Farm for lunch and Albanese Confectionery for Gummi Bears.  Fair Oaks Farm is a place we talk about going to for more than an awesome grilled cheese sandwich, but usually we are on our way to someplace and are on a schedule.  Albanese has changed over the years, but still make amazing gummi bears of different flavors which allow us to buy one flavor instead of a mixed bag.  My favorite they stopped making as a bear- peach, but they still make as rings. Once we crossed over into Wisconsin it was a stop at the Mars Cheese Castle to see if there was anything we needed for the rest of the trip. Once we were done stocking up there we headed through Wisconsin.  Making a list of things we want to do the “next time” we are heading this way. So we will be heading back to the land of cheeeeeeese and brats and beer.

We arrived at Road America and stopped to get our bearings for the next day of racing.  First goal find the MINIs. There are times when I wish I was a bit more outgoing. while I go various places, I tend to hid in the shadows and just lurk. This was the case the entire weekend when we got anywhere close to the MINI John Cooper Works Racing Team tent. We kept our our distance. mostly because they were busy. They were doing car racing things, with tools and stuff and we didn’t want to bother them. You’l find that this is my mantra, “You have more important things to do than deal with me.” Sue shares this feeling, so unless we are invited to join, we tend to sit back. The last time we were at a race, we were with friends who knew everybody. We looked around for people we may know and besides the bad of the whole thing (who was busy being in charge) we saw no one we knew so went on our way.

This was not just a weekend for watching cars go around a track (or a small portion of a track since we could see the entire track. It was also just a time for adventure, which tends to mean consulting Atlas Obscura or Geocaching to see what strange and interesting things might be around. First of all- we were shocked that Road America had no geocaches, or Adventure Labs. it made a little sense since it was “America’s National Park of Speed” and no caches are allowed at national parks, but was it really a “National park”? we couldn’t find anyplace to get our National Park Passport stamped, or get one of those coins they now sell at the gift shops… Hmmm… One thing about Wisconsin, I discovered was a lack of just random caches. Sure there were a lot of large statues of cows… but while perfect places for a cache or an Adventure Lab stage, there was nothing. That said we did find some cool things and some great caches.

We stayed south in the larger town of West Bend. For geocachers this is a known place, home to the West Bend Cache Bash- which we missed by a week or so. This means that the place was full of various caches and after dinner on the first night we decided to start with an Adventure Lab on Main street dealing with the murder of Signal the Frog.

Have I mentioned I like Adventure Labs? Unlike Geocaches that sometime require special tools, and bugs, and spiders, and climbing through thorny bushes, adventure labs are location based and only require you to answer questions from clues in your surroundings (for the most part). These make me happy and I highly recommend if you want to start geocaching, start with Adventure Labs- yes, there’s an app. As with geocaching it will take you places that only locals know about and you’ll learn about the place you are visiting from a different perspective.

So we returned to Road America the next day and watched the TC class race. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a race. While we sat watching turn 14 and the home straight a lot was happening elsewhere causing yellow flags, red flags, puce with lavender spots flags… Being from Indiana or watching auto racing on TV I am accustomed to a race being so many laps… the Indianapolis 500 is 200 laps, The first car to complete 200 laps, wins. These races were all timed. So after a certain amount of time the white flag came out signaling one more lap. The other thing was there were multiple classes of cars racing at the same time. To simplify each class allows cars with certain specifications to race, it could be engine size, wheel base, weight, drivers who owned dogs. Cars with similar specification raced together to make things fair. The MINI Coopers raced in the TC class, the BMWs raced in the TCX class. While both were on the track at the same time the track was long enough and the distance between them enough at the start that for the most part they didn’t get in each others way- for the most part. The crashes (no one was harmed in the making of this blogpost, although some cars definitely needed some help) tightened up the field and actually there was some concern that the race would not get finished. The race was extended into the lunch break in order to give them enough time. it did not give us enough time to get to the podium to celebrate the MINIs that had finished.

Seven miles away from Road America was Johnsonville. For those not from the midwest Johnsonville is known for its brats. That would be German bratwurst sausages, usually the staple for football tailgating (or so I have been told). I guess enough people have stopped by the small town and factory and found nothing that it was decided by some marketing people, it might be a good idea to have something out there for them to find. Pretty much a visitor center filled with all things wisconsin, and especially Bratwurst. The crowning piece was the last work done by famed artist Robert Indiana sitting outside. Now to say the actual town was small would be an overstatement. We decided to try to find lunch and there was one building that had am empty ballroom/beer hall that reminded me of a VFW. and an even smaller diner that was packing things up about an hour before close. we got some sandwiches to go, but could tell, even for a Saturday, they weren’t expecting, nor did they really want anyone coming in. Not that they weren’t nice, and friendly (this is the midwest after all) but you know they were hoping to close early and go enjoy one of the last days of Summer- who could blame them? We took the rest of the day for adventures and finished off the Signal Murder Adventure Lab along with a walk about Regner Park which was amazing. It did start to get hotter and hotter as the day wore on, not making Sunday look that appealing.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday… We had one race to go and decided to sit in Turn 5 and watch- fortunately there were not issues and it was a clean race. MINIs took first and third with (I think) a Hyundai getting second. We celebrated with the crowd the MINI victory and then started the drive home… with help help the holy guidance of WAZE, patron Saint of directions. This is the midwest, and this is road construction season, So after a quick detour back to Johnsonville, and then to Port Washington for a Web Cam cache we needed some guidance and we weren’t the only ones. I started to note that we were basically in a conga line of cars making some interesting turns through neighborhoods and realized that we were all using WAZE to get past whatever blockage there was on the interstate. While people complain about AI for a lot of things, having something be able to look at the big picture on the road and navigate you through so you avoid sitting in a car standing still for an hour… I did alter from the divine plan one we had made it through Chicago and WAZE was directing on some roundabout way that would save me a whopping 2 minutes.

We had a wonderful adventure and as I noted to Sue, the cool thing was it was Sunday and I wasn’t anxious about school the next day. I had some things I needed to get done, but most of it didn’t have any random element to it, so I could handle it. I have missed these little Adventure Days the we used to do – some might call them “One Tank Trips” or something simple escapes. We used to do these more often and then adulting got in the way. That and we realized that in a few cases we would go just to buy stuff we really didn’t need. Now we go to just experience the world we live in. We’ve got a few more of these on the calendar for 2023- should be fun.

So no matter what anyone claims, they’re a geek.  Everyone is passionate about something.  We just use the work “geek” when we don’t understand or share in that passion.  Yesterday I decided to take a moment and see a part of geekdom that was new to me… kinda.  I attended a day of Power Con in Columbus, Ohio.  Power Con is a toy enthusiast convention. Enthusiast is another work for geek, that doesn’t sound derogatory.  Now most of us have been toy enthusiasts at some point in our lives.  We all played with toys.  We liked one toy over another.  We learned the mythology behind the characters, or created the myths in the time before cartoon based toys.  Power Con takes this to another level.  A playground for the “kidult” who is into action figures and toys. Ask me about comic books and I have a passing knowledge of creators- writers, artists, inkers…. I can discuss with you Bob Kane vs. Bill Finger, or Stan Lee vs. Jack Kirby.  I can look at a Warner Brothers cartoon and tell who the director is just by the style of Bugs Bunny.   These are areas that I know, in the realm of toys- I’m lost. Which was why I decided to attend.  I was curious.  Beforehand I had a chance to talk with a friend who is more into this than I am.  I heard about various design companies and their origins and specialties.  I knew I was clueless, and after that conversation I realized just how clueless I was.

Nostalgia plays a role in this, as does pop culture.  However these aren’t the toys of your childhood, and if they are, they are now “collector’s items.” I looked around the hall and found that there were a few different kinds of exhibitors: resellers, companies, designers and “other.”  The resellers had what you might think of as a flea market, antique mall vibe.  They had lots of different items trying to appeal to whoever walked by.  Expensive stuff was in cases, other stuff was just on shelves.  It was in these booths I realized I was out of my element, time period wise.  Anything that I recall having as a kid… was in a display case, or priced way beyond my stop and think point.  The majority of items tended to be from the 80’s and 90’s… so Masters of the Universe, Thundercats, Star Wars, etc.  G.I. Joe was gnome sized compared to Barbie.  My little brother’s era of toys.  My G.I. Joe could date Barbie and was in a case, mint in box for over $400.   I found a few things that sparked my interest, but by the time I returned to the booth, they were gone. This was good, because I don’t need to add to the hoard.

Companies were mostly independent groups who had their own following. Many companies seem to have adopted, the designer sneaker way of selling- drop an item online for a limited time, take orders and then make only that number.  They become rare and expensive so the next round, more people will buy in hopes that they will make it rich. There were a few companies that I guess were “dropping” product at the con so like Lorcana at Gen Con, the line was extremely long.  The difference was it didn’t seem like there were limits to what you could purchase.  Double decker wagons, flatbed carts, people dragging boxes were common place.  Now let me make it clear- these are not your typical action figures.  These are pretty much works of art, not signed or numbered, but highly detailed in every way with multiple points of articulation, and changeable parts to be able to pose in anyway possible.  I was happy with “kung-fu grip.”  Some companies were there just to show what they had done, and get you excited about what’s next. Pre-orders available soon.

Designers in some cases had booths where they showcased what they had created for whatever company, this was like artist alley at a comic con.  Seeing the displays of drawings and sketches was neat. Some newer designers had brought samples of things using the tech available, so 3D printers and other maker skills were definitely at play.   Some very cool things, but my old brain looked at many as not for a traditional “toy” audience. Do I really need a demon with three heads looking like it just stepped out the ferry on the River Styx? It did have multiple points of articulation so think of how it could be posed on the bookshelf!

The other consisted of the group of guests and community groups, so cosplayers, clubs, etc.

All in all, I can see the appeal to a certain segment, but I went for only a few reasons.  First, deciding what I want to focus on I had decided the Rocketeer, Star Trek, and maybe if something from my youth jumped.  The Rocketeer was easy, Fresh Monkey Fiction had been talking about their “Longbox Heroes” series and had gotten the license for Rocketeer action figures based on the comic.  Sadly, I had missed the pre-order dates, but thought I would take a look and ask.  This was my initial reason for going.  I got to see the figures, but they had only produced enough for those who had ordered them, and those were still on a boat heading to the U.S.

Star Trek wise there are a few different things- action figures of different sizes, props and ships.  I knew a friend was into Mego action figures and found a booth that only had those of various vintages.  I texted a photo to him and picked up a couple that he wanted.  I decided to buy a Gorn, just because.  I saw some of the larger scale ships,but nothing I really wanted since I have no idea where I would put them.  A few prop/toys but nothing that jumped.  A few things from my era, but my holy grail would probably be the disk firing phaser (that didn’t look at all like a phaser and would be pulled from the market for being too dangerous if they tried to release it today).

So as far as the con went, it was interesting to dive into a different area of geekdom.  I relegated myself to the dealer hall, because, while the panels would be interesting for someone in the know, I was not someone in the know and had no idea which panels I should attend. Similar to my early Comic Con experiences. I only spent part of the first day there, so I know I missed a lot, not only in my inexperience, but also in not taking the time to scour each booth. There were some interesting things, mostly on the design side.  If I were still in a classroom this could have been the starting point for a engaging design unit and I would have needed a wagon to get out of the hall.  So fortunately, I now temper my decisions and if the idea of a lesson pops into my head, I slowly walk away.  I may look on eBay if I get bored just to see what things are available and the cost… I know Con prices are usually geared for the “rube” and may not reflect actual value. I’ve been to my share of LEGO conventions.

 I pride myself on being a geek… a “multifaceted geek” which really means-I’m a geek that can’t make up his mind.  As I have said in past posts, I’m trying to figure things out after having been locked into being a teacher for almost 40 years.  As a teacher you spend a lot of time & energy on the job outside the job. As an elementary school teacher, the entire world is something you can bring into your classroom, so you can’t go anywhere without seeing something that could help engage kids.  It could be a book, an exhibit, or even just sand on a beach.  Sadly, real teachers have a hard time flipping the switch and just being human.  Last week marked the start of school for most of Indiana, it also marked the annnual arrival of Gen Con to Indianapolis.

What is Gen Con?

To a large part of the population who focus on sportsing, they have no clue about anything outside of whatever sport season it is… Gen Con is just a bunch of weirdos downtown.  Over 70,000 weirdos but like sportsing there are different kinds of weirdos. From now on the word “weirdo” will be replaced with “geek” because it has a slightly more positive spin, and this is “My Geek Odyssey” after all.  Let’s start off with what Gen Con is not-  it is not a comic book convention, it is not a toy convention, it is not a collectible convention, it is not a place where stars of TV and movies tell about their latest projects. What is it?  It is a gathering of people from around the world who like to play games.  What kind of games?  All different kinds.    It all started with war games, and playing with armies, reenacting battles, and coming up with rules to govern how things worked. It morphed into fantasy and science fiction taking characters from beloved stories and reacting those adventures. Does it have elements of any “Pop Culture Con”? Yes, because so many games are based on pop culture properties.  Everything at Gen Con ties back to games. When I was a kid I had heard about this mysterious gathering in Geneva, Wisconsin… I never could get up the nerve to convince my parents to vacation there.

You may have heard of Dungeons & Dragons, it was in “Stranger Things” and in the 80’s caused a ruckus dealing with satan worship, just like comic books caused a ruckus in the 50’s.  So if you go to Gen Con, you’ll see people dressed as elves and knights and Robin Hood.  You’ll also see characters out of Anime, comic books, television, movies, and… *shock* books.  You’ll also see a lot of people who have found their tribe in a group that doesn’t fit in.  Who were bullied, who escaped the torture of of “real world” by diving into different worlds.  I’m an introvert… in D&D I play an obnoxious bard.  In real life if put in a room of strangers, I quietly sit back and watch, hiding from everyone.  My character, on the other hand, does the opposite.  I draw, which is a pretty solitary exercise… my character plays music and tells stories and is the life of the party.  When you are with people like you, who understand what you are talking about, you feel at home.

So… what did I do at Gen Con?

This was one of the first times I actually could attend all of Gen Con.  I decided I would take some time and tryout some things.  In the past I’ve gotten a badge, and then wandered the exhibit/vendor hall looking at stuff and, being a teacher, buying games for my classroom.  I’ve done this at most Cons the first time I attend, it’s a chance to learn about the community.  It’s basically like a giant focused marketplace with an entrance fee.  For years this is what I had done.  This year I branched out, and at Gen Con, this meant getting tickets.  Your badge gets you into the hall, tickets let you participate in the fun.  Ticketed events can be free, or cost a pretty penny it just matters what you are doing.  You pick your events and on a certain date they open it up and via a queue you get to try to get into the events you want.  This year I was lucky, and was at the front of the queue.  I got everything I wanted.  My friend… not so lucky.  It also matters what you want to get into.  I was trying for a series of workshops dealing with puppetry with a few games thrown in.  While popular, since not directly tied to games, puppetry has a limited audience.  My friend, was trying to get into a bunch of games with limited seats. 

Puppets

I decided since I was looking at all my various options to look at the puppetry program.  Yes, Gen Con has a puppetry program.  It was really amazing, but after spending most of Thursday going from session to session (all in the same room, fortunately) I was exhausted, both physically, and mentally.  I learned a lot and like the time I spent at Disney learning about animation, started thinking that I might have looked into this art form a little late in life.  Just the stretching to prepare to learn how to properly move the mouth of a hand puppet was a bit much for my old body.  I decided like anything- it takes time and commitment.  I’m just not sure if I have either for a new area of study.  It’s still on the list, but the test was did I purchase a full blown puppet while at the show… did I build one?  I didn’t sign up for the basic puppet building workshops – I probably should have, but… I decided not to devote my entire Con to puppetry.  I figured if I liked it, I can do more in the coming years.  I think the performance piece was something I just wasn’t sure of.  While I appreciate constructive criticism I can say as a teacher the first person tends to get hit hard… that was me.  As it got to the end of that session the last few people got a little, but when you have an inferiority complex coupled with anxiety- it kind of is hard when you are the example for everyone on how not to do it.  Everyone does better than you because, you showed them everything that you shouldn’t do.  Then again, I am probably taking it personally.  Like I said, I haven’t said “Never Again” but I also know I have a lot of room for growth.

Games

While a large portion of my time was spent in the puppet room the first day I did try out some gaming sessions with mixed results.  The first session I attended was basically two companies going over how they worked together to create characters for a fantasy role playing game.  Most of it involved the features available to create online 3D printable miniatures of your character.  It ended with everyone getting their pick of a miniature.  The only problem was that the first few people weee extremely picky… looking at every single option. I’m surprised there aren’t still people in that room waiting to choose.  I was running late to my next session and just reached in to grab one- I got a ranger. Very cool looking and having done some CAD I was impressed by the user interface and detail.

My next sessions were either demos or “how to play” with mixed results.  I may have had a preconceived notion about what “How to play” meant- learn how to play a game, by playing the game.  This was not the case initially.  In my first instance was dealing with a role playing game – enough time had been allocated to give people time to create a basic character and go through a scene.  Instead about half the time was spent going over the entire game system.  From what I could tell the fame system decided the important role for the Game Master was to move the narrative along.  This gave them a lot of leeway throughout the game.  For the most part characters could not die.  I’m not going to go into details, because it works for the concept, but a 90 minute lecture conveying information that could have been done through playing the game… after two hours the presenter was done and I left trying to figure out how to actually play the game.

I then had a chance to play Aerodrome 1.1 which is a dogfight game in this case based on Battlestar Galactica but traditionally based on World War I flying aces.  In the time we had, we played a number of sorties and while flying a MKII Viper I was never killed, but that doesn’t mean we won every time also.  Pilots were given laser cut controls where they put down three moves… direction, altitude, and weapons.  It reminded me of many of the dogfight games I had played in the past.  You needed to think a few steps ahead and hope you guessed right.  The biggest issue was the Cylons were precise.  When human pilots would need to roll a piloting check or lose control and go into a spin after a difficult maneuver… they didn’t.  My issue was running out of ammo.  While I did hit a few bad guys when it came to rolling to decide who had fired the killing blow- like when I play D&D the dice were not in my favor.  I play to try to get into more games in the future if possible, this was fun.

At the end of the day I had a demo of a space combat game.  This I played with a friend of mine and it was fascinating.  The game allowed players to customize their ships and build their ships accordingly.  I think the hardest thing was dealing with the size of the ships.  While it was a dogfight game it had few things different from the Aerodrome game.  First it was more old school- measuring turns and moves with templates and rulers where Aerodrome used a hex map.  Secondly it was turned based so instead of resolving combat and movement at once, each player took turns and allocated energy throughout their turn.  Weapons had ranges and firing arcs, so while the customization of ships was cool, it also added complexity to the game that might make it more difficult in the beginning.  I enjoyed playing and was happy think about the possibilities.  Unfortunately, I have a thing against games that deal with a collectible component- it can throw off gameplay as one player gathers the most powerful parts.

The last day I signed myself up for another “Learn to Play” this time it was for a game that had been introduced last year, and I had actually bought the moment I could… I just never had played it and the rules seemed a bit more complex for me to figure out just by reading them.  I decided I had a chance to have someone teach me the game- so let’s see if I messed up.  I didn’t mess up.  The game is Starship Captains and it was a lot of fun to play.  I say this not because I won.  In the game you are a newly minted captain, with a ship that only a newly minted captain would love.  Your job, fly through the galaxy completing missions and gaining experience as you fix your ship, train your crew, and fight space pirates.   While just reading the rules may make your brain go numb, the actual game is pretty simple to understand.  Like I said, it was a lot of fun.  Sadly, I’m sure I would have had the same feeling from my first learn to play session, if we had played.

The Horror of the Vendor Hall and Beyond

When you first attend a Con, most people, unless they came for a specific purpose, spend their time in the “Dealer Room” also know as the Exhibit Hall, or Vendor Hall. This is where people sell you stuff. What kind of stuff? The stuff dreams are made of… sometimes the stuff nightmares are made of… sometimes just stuff to “crap up the house.” The larger the Con the larger the vendor space. every year there is usually something special or exclusive items that can only be purchased at the Con or or eBay later for “millions of dollars.” The San Diego Comic Con is notorious for their exclusives and the rarity of them. People run from booth to booth to get tickets for the raffles to be allowed to buy whatever it is. Gen Con isn’t that different, but each subcategory of geek, will have something they are searching for… this year it seemed to be something called “Lorcana.” Without going into details (and all games, like most pop culture things you can go into details for hours) Lorcana is a Disney collectible card game. Pokemon, Magic, and other collectible games in which some cards are rarer and more powerful than others. Having these cards makes you special, you get invited out by popular people, you get elected to high positions in the government, you get fame and fortune or something. Basically what I have seen is you get to brag to everyone who cares that you have… whatever. Those in the know go “oooh!” those in the know with money will offer to buy it from you. Lorcana being a combination of Disney & a CollectibleCard Game was the perfect storm. Lines were long and in the beginning unruly. Having gone through that phase a long time ago with “Heroclix” I avoided the line as much as possible. For days a line formed the night before, and the limited product sold out around lunch time. By dinner time, cards were already on eBay, selling initially for over $1000 each. by the end of the Con the economics principle of supply and demand had started to go into effect and card prices were a bit more reasonable.

What did I buy? Not as much as I had in the past. When I had a short time at Gen Con I would usually run through looking for games that were 1. easy/quick to learn and 2. quick to play. This was so I had new games for kids to play during recess or if we had a spare moment. I’d also look for themes that might tie into what I was teaching. One year I picked up an entire set of games based on fairy tales. This time was interesting, because every time I saw a game that would be great for kids… I walked away from it. Many people post photos of their “haul” I actually prefer to support my local game shop and while I do buy stuff (It’s like an auction, you just can’t stop yourself) I try to limit my purchases to things that are carried at Saltire Games.

• My friend is planning on running a Star Trek Adventure Role Playing Game so I picked up a few books for that game to better prepare me… including the yet to be released Lower Decks book. I also picked up dice for the game. I’m a trekkie, so this made sense.
• I also picked up some dice… because I don’t have enough dice. I don’t have enough dice in a certain shade of violet with and without sparkly bits.
• I also picked up tea… because I’m a trekkie and “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot.” Although in Indiana in the summer, I have taken to brewing a pot of iced tea each week. The two I picked up were the “Exclusive” Gen Con Tea for 2023 Arcanist Desire and a tea called TARDIS – 11 “Geronimo!” both black teas with various other stuff mixed in. I have brewed the Arcanist Desiret and it is really good with blueberry and black currant tones.
• A LARP viking sword- For Going Caching in October I decided I “needed” a sword. A real sword would have been awesome, but it also would have come with some safety and legal issues. A LARPing sword (Live Action Role Playing) looks pretty real, but is actually safe since it is foam.
• A viking belt pouch. Cecil needed a place to rest while at Going Caching, so I found a really cool one with Freyr’s boar, Gullinbursti, on it.
• Pins- You see Gen Con does this thing called the “Pin Bazaar” where some vendors have “exclusive pins” and if you buy enough pins , you can then get “super exclusive pins” and even “super duper exclusive pins.” The only issue seemed to be some places never got their pins.
• A t-shirt. Yes, like I need another t-shirt. I actually have given almost all my school t-shirts to Goodwill so maybe I do. This one goes with the Going Caching viking theme.
• A bottle of wine- Dragon’s Blood was the Gen Con Exclusive wine, by a local winery, just down the street.

Outside of stuff Gen Con has what they call the “Block Party” in which they fill the street with food trucks and other food and beverage vendors. This place was great, a lot bigger and more open than the past, that didn’t stop the lines from still being long and the wait sometimes being very long. To get to the Block Party you had to pass through a Pinball Alley. A corridor lined on one side with pinball machines, and a high score contest going on the entire Con. My favorite as I walked by them was a James Bond themed one which focused on my favorite movie- “You Only Live Twice.” I never had a chance to play it, but since I am local, and the group that brought all the machines is local, I’m hoping to take a retirement day and go out and try it out sometime.

So there were pros and cons Gen Con, and in this day and age all you usually hear about are the bad things that happened. Were there crowds? Yes. Were people oblivious to their surroundings and bumping into people? Yes. Were people apologizing when this happened? For the most part, Yes. Did I miss the destruction of Cardhalla and the life size balloon lunar lander? Yes. Did I miss the costume parade? Yes. Did a lot of people for a brief moment not feel like they were weird and had time with people who understood them? Most importantly, Yes.

Being local, I’m sure unless something comes up and I am out of town, I will return to Gen Con. Will I do more? What will I do? I don’t know… yet.

This week marks the first week of August which translates to my official first week of figuring out what my future will bring me. I recently said to someone I just am trying to find out after all this time what really is my core being. What is it that makes me happy, and what makes me… me. For over 35 years my career has defined me, now what? I started doing this in June and as I cross things off, I am starting to focus on a few things.

I started with a list of items that might seem strange to some but are things I like. You know the typical social media list you put together when asked to “Tell us about yourself…” For me it tends to include: comic books, drawing, MINI Coopers, games, LEGO, Geocaching, Cats, and stuff like that. I say I’m a multifaceted geek, but am I? I know I’m an introvert, who dislikes social situations. When pressed I can “Embrace my inner ‘Bob'” and play the role of the extrovert, but I really prefer spending time by myself or with those people who I feel comfortable around. If you made that list, congratulations- it is a very short list. Those who know me, know that when I’m passionate about something, and feel comfortable I become somewhat evangelical about things. How many people started geocaching, or thought about buying a MINI Cooper after talking to me?

So the first thing I did this “summer” was attend GeoWoodstock- geocaching is something I have been involved in since 2006, and while I’m not as diehard as I once was, I still kinda enjoy it. Sue is more into than I am. For me the creation of “Adventure Labs” has been what keeps me going. I no longer find that much joy in digging around thorny bushes looking for Tupperware. I do, however, like learning about new places and finding out what makes them special. Adventure labs take you around places and require that you answer questions based on your location. There’s an app for it, there are sometimes geocaches tied to them, but for the most part, walk around and look at the cool stuff in a small town and find out what makes the place special. So while geocaching itself is not high on my list, travel, and discovering new places is still there- I’d say exploring, but that word currently leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

What about MINI Coopers? I have taken part the summer to accomplish one of my first projects which was to get my Roadster redone. I own a 2012 early build (January) MINI Cooper Roadster – two seat convertible. Highly impractical, but also a lot of fun. It has a manual top, something MINI stopped making early on after complaints about how difficult it was to use- it isn’t but haters got to hate. I’d been bouncing around a lot of ideas and finally settled on something based on Dave Steven’s “The Rocketeer” one of my favorite comic books. While waiting to get this done Sue and I attended a few different MINI Club events. One put on in Fort Wayne – a drive to a haunted asylum…the other a drive to celebrate the local club’s anniversary and the renovation of the Indianapolis dealership. Afterwards I decided that there was reason I no longer did things with the local club… nothing against the people, but it just wasn’t fun. So I could check off being active in the local MINI community as a thing I wanted to pursue. I’m still looking forward to MINI Takes The States in 2024 and other MINI events, but I’m happy to keep my local MINI time to a minimum. Why? maybe it’s the introvert, maybe it’s some of the people, maybe its just looking for the right event. The asylum trip the Fort Wayne group put together was a lot of fun, I’m looking forward to seeing what else they have planned.

Now it comes to games… something I enjoy, but definitely puts me out of my comfort zone. This week is Gen Con the largest game convention in North America. “The Best Four Days of Gaming” held in Indianapolis, it is an amazing gathering of gamer geeks from something as simple as “Sorry” to complex war games and role playing games. All of which take me to an anxiety level that will make my little stress sensor explode. Why? I don’t like not knowing what to do. I don’t like not following the rules. I don’t like making a fool out of myself. I’m uncomfortable around people. I started playing D&D when I was in middle school. I played throughout college. I did a great job of faking certain knowledge. I never read Tolkien… I still haven’t read a lot of it. I read space opera stuff. My favorite genre still is “Comedic Fantasy.” I don’t take this stuff too seriously. The “Myth Adventures” series by Robert Aspirin is one of my go to books. Terry Pratchett’s Discworld is another one that I love. My usual character is a sarcastic bard who will break the fourth wall whenever possible. With names like “Simon Garnetfunkel” or “Peter Paulenmary” I don’t take the game or myself seriously. Which isn’t always the right way to play. So I’m going to Gen Con this week and doubling down on a few things- but gaming isn’t the focus. I will be throwing myself into Star Trek Adventures (RPG) and a few other games, but mostly I’m going for the puppets.

Gen Con has a few different groups along with the gamers. One are artists, another writers, and then there are the puppeteers. So this year I decided to jump in and try out the puppet workshop. Almost all day Thursday I will be learning about puppets. How does this mesh with the introvert in me… I can hide behind a puppet. I’m not sure how this will work out I might decide at the end that I don’t like it. I may find out that I love it. Personally, I have always bee fascinated by Jim Henson and the Muppets… so as I try to figure things out- let’s see if my love of the muppets has a more prominent place in my life. At the end of the week- I’ll definitely have a better idea. I’ll be attending: The Kickoff and Make & Take, Hand Sewing for Beginners (Sue is an expert, but I don’t want to always have to bug her), Puppet Mouth-Plate Symposium, Building a Moving-Mouth Rod Puppet, Intro to Moving-Mouth Puppetry, Building a Better Hand Puppet, and Puppet Arm Rod Symposium. Do I know anything about any of this? Nope. So I’m definitely out of my comfort zone on this, and strangely excited about seeing what happens behind the curtain. Don’t worry (or maybe you should worry) I’ll make sure to do a recap after everything is said and done.

The other areas- LEGO, Comic Books, Drawing, etc. deserve more time and space. I think the thing that I’m really trying to do is focus on what I like and what I am passionate about. Partially because I don’t want to be all over the place, but also because with limited resources I don’t want to be collecting things that I really don’t care about in the end. As I start this journey, I’m know I’m going to go down some paths that will define what I don’t want to do… while other may open up some avenues I hadn’t even thought of. The bucket list of activities that just need to be checked off vs. the stuff I want to continue on for what remains of my life. Here’s to the journey, not the destination. I’ve got a lot of other things on the list as I go through the 3-6 months of just figuring things out- more on that later…

I’ve written and rewritten this hundreds of times. As I kept trying to figure out what pushed me over the edge… so many things that just kept piling up and I couldn’t ignore.

Why did I retire? As the school year begins so does the actual start of my “real” retirement. This summer was similar to other summers with a few exceptions. I didn’t spend any time at school. I usually would drop in once a week to work on things. I didn’t spend any money on things for school. Usually I’d take the summer to restock. I didn’t expend any effort on planning activities for my classes or worry about the new robotics season. So I guess it was the first summer I’ve had in 35 years that was “Summer.” I originally had grandiose plans to travel, but decided instead to focus on home things since I can now travel whenever I want. Why go someplace during peak tourist season? I spent some time reflecting on my decision- why retire? Why now?

There were a lot of things on the pro side of retirement and very few on the con. While I was making the decision I was angry, I felt unappreciated, ignored – every time I saw a light at the end of the tunnel and thought I could stick it out a few more years, continue to make a difference- I discovered the light was just an oncoming train. So there are a lot of reasons, but I think it boiled down to I was tired or to quote the mad prophet of the airwaves – “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

Having a Master’s Degree in Administration and not wanting to be an administrator I knew I couldn’t really do anything to enact change. Sure they’d make “pie crust promises” shout to the hilltops about their commitment to STEM & Robotics, but I had learned it was all talk. I was a lowly special area teacher, not even a classroom teacher. So I looked at the hypocrisy and decided things were not going to get better… I would just get angrier and angrier and more and more frustrated. People would smile and nod and things would either remain the same or get worse. So instead of being that grumpy curmudgeon of a teacher for the remainder of my career, I decided to take the hint given to me by the administration and admit my services were no longer needed- it was time to move on.

As I look back on my career and I’m proud of what I did. Some of my favorite memories of teaching involve the times when I had a chance to do weird stuff. Not in the approved curriculum. Turning my classroom into “World Wide Studios” and recording every project (on VHS tape)- “Turandot” and “The Great Brain Robbery” were amazing experiences for myself and especially for my kids. Giving kids complete control over the video morning announcements. Taking kids to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. Weekly poetry recitations, things that weren’t part of the official curriculum, but made learning more engaging. As my career started to wind down the biggest frustration was hearing people applaud all the things I was doing and knowing that it wasn’t that special. Wasn’t as “cutting edge” as I would have liked. That if I had the chance I could have done so much more… but I was told to be content with what I had – stop complaining. I was told “Misery is a choice.”

So I lost hope that things would get better- sometime… maybe. I decided to retire instead of pounding my head against the wall. I wish my successor the best- I’m assuming that they knew before the end of the school year that they were taking over… in hindsight a lot things make more sense knowing that this was in the works long before I announced my intentions to retire. That it was planned (I’m allowed my conspiracy theory as much as the next guy). Hopefully, they will get more support than I did. Maybe my leaving will be a catalyst… (there’s that silly optimism popping in) Most of all I hope the kids get what they need to be successful in an ever changing crazy world. For me, it was time to go & now a new adventure awaits- more on that later.

As I have talked about in the past, each year I try to push myself into a creative project that gets me out of my comfort zone. When I decided to retire, I know I would lose access to some really nice equipment that was (for the most part) rarely used. I wanted to engage my students in a final project for the end of the school year and challenged myself at the same time. “Design something using the laser cutter or 3D printer based on something from Pop culture that you like” this was the assignment. A way to get them to work in CAD and try something new. Like anything dealing with technology the assignment had to be changed as the technology advanced. In this case TinkerCAD the entry level online CAD application we were using had just added a simulation part to their interface. So you could simulate how things would behave in real life. So for many of the students who (I don’t know why, but I have my guesses) couldn’t come up with a cartoon character, or something from a video game they wanted to make I added make a carnival game that you can’t win or a marble run. The last few days when most students were done, they were challenged to make Sponge Bob Squarepants. Only one student cheated by finding and copying a file, everyone else tried and did a pretty good job.

This leads me to my project… The third (“and final”) season of Picard was airing while this assignment was going on, so I decided I would try to make the U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701 “no bloody A, B, C, or D.” With the addition of “Strange New Worlds” the Enterprise had changed since that original design I first saw growing up in California. I was such a geek I would proudly carry around my copy of the technical manual scouring over it during recess. So I decided to finally finish the project I tried and failed with in Industrial Arts in Middle School, a model of the Enterprise. For transparency, I had the full plans of the refit from the film in 8th grade and just didn’t have the technical skill or the time (mostly the skill) to get past making the saucer out of wood. This time it would be different.

I decided to start by not trying to be exact. I know I have a certain “style” to my art and decided I would just have fun with it, making it a lot more cartoon in its proportions. I took one class period (when I did not have students and threw together a quick model that was recognizable. Then I copied it and started working through adding details and cleaning it up. Iteration 2 wasn’t too bad and I felt from there (after learning how TinkerCAD behaves on an iPad) I was ready to print off a trial.

One thing I knew was our filament based printers weren’t perfect. In fact, they were great in certain circumstances, but in many others they lacked certain abilities. For the record The school had Dremel 3D40 printers using the stock Dremel software to slice .stl files from TinkerCAD. I knew that the software would build scaffolding to support the build and that it would need to be torn off. Also I knew this would be difficult since I had my share of scars from doing this with student projects in the past. I took the design and created various parts to reduce the scaffolding and from there printed a small version to see how it fit together. While it did work… It wasn’t as good as I had wanted. I had the fill set to be more hollow so as I removed the supporting elements the skin was not as strong. Basically the bottom of the saucer was “squishy.” So it was back to TinkerCAD and see what I could do. It was here where I added a few more details, just to see how they would work out.

My next print truly demonstrated on of the limitations as I had taken the saucer section and split it in half when printing so I wouldn’t have as much that needed to be torn away. Unfortunately, the portion of the saucer that should have stuck to the build plate, rose up giving it a curved bottom which would not stay flush with the other half- this led me to going to the dreaded hobby shop and look for things modelmakers use, and things I haven’t played with since I was maybe 12. I bought sandpaper, plastic model cement, and putty to fill in the gaps. This would not be my last trip to the hobby shop- I was going step by step not realizing how much stuff I would need for one “simple” project.

I was really excited about how it was coming together, although I knew there was a lot of work needed to be done. The biggest question was: Are my fixes working? The only way to tell would be to head back to the hobby store and get paint. I started with simple grey primer. and sprayed parts as I worked on them, sanding down parts and realizing that it would take forever to smooth all the ridges formed as the filament went around and around. The other issue would be the flat sections which were part of an intro level CAD app like TinkerCAD. Some of these I was willing to live with, figuring that I could always go back and improve the file later.

Once I thought I was done fiddling with the sandpaper and putty it was time to head back to the hobby store to get paint. Now when it comes to paint, I need to be clear, I was doing this as economically as i could. I was not going to invest in an airbrush (still have nightmares about airbrushes from middle school- my parents told a teacher that I would be happy to give a presentation on how airbrushes work… I had only watched my dad use the airbrush, so when it would work and I was embarrassed in front of the entire class… well middle schoolers can be cruel and back then, they were. This started my extreme belief to always have multiple back up plans whenever dealing with technology). I had stuck with simple spray paint and then started looking for the correct shade of blueish grey for the Enterprise… um, they didn’t have anything like what I wanted, so I went with whatever was closest… which ended up being almost the exact same color as the primer. I also started pulling paint for the other portions that needed painting. trying to stick with basic colors. Oh, a brush and paint thinner were also needed. One thing I had forgotten about over the years was how badly the fumes from this stuff permeate a room. I tried painting in the basement, but quickly moved to the garage with the doors open.

So, how was I going to add the lettering? I could purchase decals from another model, but those would be made for a certain scale ship, and definitely not the one I had made. Back to the hobby shop. I discovered that they now make decals that go through a printer. I have a simple black and white laser printer so I bought the kind that work in a laser or copy machine. Then I had to create the files. and now the geek comes out. OK so there is an “official” Start Trek font, there is also a “Federation” font like the one used on ships since Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The font used in the original series, was pretty much simple sans-serif military font, like those found on naval ships. Was going to try to be accurate, or was I going to go with whatever I wanted. I then looked at what was happening in Strange New Worlds and the font there is somewhat of an amalgam of the two, leaning more towards the later films and shows. I was scared, since the instructions all mentioned putting a layer of decal protection stuff over the decal so it wouldn’t smear, or whatever. I decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it. I still need to deal with the color portion of the design (the red stripe and yellow chevron) but so far…

Now I just need to figure out how to properly display it once I add the color graphics to it. I’m also looking at fiddling around with a silver paint pen, but as always I’m a little apprehensive – then again what’s the worst thing that could happen?

Adults tend to have fond memories of “Snow Days.” Those magical breaks due to bad weather that happen throughout those places that get snow.

Years ago Snow Days were just part of doing business. In Indiana a school district would apply for a waiver and not have up make them up, unless you took off weeks at a time. My first few years we had “Make Up Days” Martin Luther King’s Birthday and President’s Day we’re on the calendar as days we would go to school if we needed. One year, it happened. The community got upset, the media was called and we ended up adding days to the end of the year. Which was good since the last possible day for a blizzard is well into March. Having taught for as many years as I have I know if we can make it past the High School Boys Basketball Finals we are safe.

Make up days are still around and part of the calendar but waivers died when a new Superintendent of Public Instruction came into office and decided besides that public money should go to vouchers and charters, that test scores should be used to punish schools and teachers, that also all days need to be made up- no matter what. The school year is 180 days, period. Waivers were a thing of the past. We started dealing with delays instead… did it help improve education? Not really. It did give me two hours to shovel my driveway. Once we finally got used to the “new normal” we had a pandemic.

The race to virtual schooling and its impact has been debated and discussed so I won’t even go into that here. What it did really, was put a nail in the coffin of the “Snow Day.” Even though devices may not normally go home, if there is a chance of bad weather, suddenly it’s OK. There’s a scramble to make sure the system works and Zoom links working. Virtual classes replaced sleeping in, playing in the snow, just being a kid. The gift of an unscheduled reprieve from the daily grind is no longer. If anything it has become worse than a regular day. Trying to figure out device/connectivity issues through a screen. Trying to mute parents talking loudly about things they should talk about around small children, but now the entire class can hear. You see the inequities firsthand and wish the people who had the power to change things would understand.

I guess just wish the kids could have played today, but with the high stakes tests on the horizon what else can schools do?