Don’t tell me Ron Paul doesn’t stand a chance!

We had a really nice Mother’s Day weekend this year! On Saturday, we bundled up the kids and a picnic lunch and moseyed on over to Spring Lake Park. We’d only ever been to the “lake” side of it before, so the open grass and the quiet creek were wonderful. (More photos at Flickr.)

On Sunday we decided to pass on message #2 of Chesapeake’s building fund series and instead visit a nearby congregation. (See, we’re really bad about driving 30 miles to attend Sunday services and not having a clue who the believers are within a 2-mile radius of our apartment.) Timonium UMC got the short straw, so we went over there and checked things out.

Wow.

It’s one thing for a church to think it’s okay for women to serve in pastoral roles… but I saw a number of appointed leaders in there yesterday morning, and not a single one was a man. (The men were either in deacon roles or just not there.) If that wasn’t enough of a shocker for me, they had the kids come up for a kiddie sermonette on Acts 16 where they were told that Lydia had her husband and kids baptized and pastored a church in her home. Needless to say, Katie got some of Papa Bear’s personal commentary on that passage at lunchtime. Maybe I’ll post my thoughts on it later, but suffice it to say, I think there was no small part of eisegesis in what was told to the kids.

The really nice part about visiting that church, though, is that we were back home by 11am (where we usually get back after 1pm). We couldn’t get over how much longer the day felt because of that, so we went driving around later, looking at houses for sale.

Anyway, for the record: 95.1 FM WRBS (run by the folks behind River Valley Ranch near Hampstead, MD) has bought the AM station, re-dubbed it “WRBS AM” and is now using it as their “teaching and hymns” station so there’s more room for their “contemporary hits” on FM.

So… I don’t think you’ll be hearing Michael Medved on there anytime soon.

After centuries of peace, Omega Centauri is in upheaval. The globular cluster that was once the center of the civilized galaxy is now on the brink of chaos and ruin. The emperor and his family have been assassinated; a power vacuum is created. Powerful factions form and vie http://travis.webseitler.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=200for control. Unrest and rebellion spread throughout Omega Centauri. Ancient powers realize new opportunities. Loyalties are forgotten and alliances are shattered; The Interregnum War begins.

Yes, Interregnum. I had to look it up in the dictionary myself; it basically means “between rulers” the way out-of-work means “between jobs” — in other words, this is a game where you play one of a number of factions all vying for control of a recently-crumbled empire. So you know right away that this is probably for the Chutes-and-Ladders crowd, right?

Galaxy Storm is a blast! “But,” you may ask, “how would you know? It’s still under development.” Ahh, but you see, Steven Cole (the developer) is a buddy from my church, and he’s been kind enough to include me in the user tests he’s been running. (I think I’m there to cover the “clueless wannabe” demographic; the most intense strategy gaming I had done previous to this was a single game of Axis & Allies.)

Since I’m just a wannabe, I’m not the best guy to describe what the game’s actually like… so I’ll just quote Mr. Cole again:

Galaxy Storm is a card-driven strategy game of interplanetary combat and diplomacy for 2, 4, or 6 players. Galaxy Storm is a medium weight strategy game that takes about 4 hours to complete. Each player controls one faction that will forge alliances, lead military and political campaigns, develop new policies and technologies, build great fleets, and conquer Omega Centauri. Each faction has unique abilities and leaders to seek their own path to victory.

So if the game’s still in development, why am I going on about it? Well, the Game Club of Maryland is hosting their annual Game Days from May 4-7 at the Days Inn Conference Center & Hotel, and Steve will be there running live demos of Galaxy Storm on Friday and Saturday! For $15 ($10 if you register before April 30) you can spend your entire Saturday playing other people’s games and hanging out with geeks like me and my friends—what’s not to love about that?

Still, it’s pretty insulting that these folks are only using the “community website” as a ploy to get more business. Now, don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing bad about getting business as a side effect of a venture like this. The problem is when that is your primary motive.

For instance, if I talk about a book here, I’ll link to Amazon via my Associate ID. If you follow the link and purchase the book, I get a (very) small referral fee from them. But making money is not why I have this blog! And Lord willing, it never will! I hope someone wrings my neck if I ever stick a Google AdSense sidebar on here.

People are coming to learn that we can have community without advertising. The folks in industries like real estate and insurance sales may be some of the last to “get it,” though. They’re so used to the “what do I get out of it” mentality that they don’t seem to understand the concept of offering something to others with no strings attached.

Now, hopefully this isn’t descriptive of Mr. Ronald Annesley, Mr. Stephen MacDonald, Mrs. Kathleen F Beadell, or Mr. John E Kessler (who, BTW, bears a passing resemblance to John Piper). Still, you are known by the company you keep, and they seem to be keeping company with folks who only see you as a source of income. Here’s hoping they prove me wrong, (which is why I’m linking to their site at all).