June – The Whirlwind Month

Ah, June! Wonderful June! The month that is zipping by like a rocket for me. Birthday, Day of Fudge, a trip to California, a week in Las Vegas, Father’s Day, and sadly a funeral for a friend. All of these took place in June this year. My head is spinning!

On top of all of that, today Gnome Stew announced that pre-orders for Eureka will be taken on June 28th! I am a contributing author to Eureka, and I can’t wait to see how many orders are placed this month!

June began with my birthday on the 2nd. Many thanks to all who wished me well via Facebook, Twitter, and in person. I had a great day, and I hope to have many more birthdays for years to come!

June 5th was the Day of Fudge. I ran a fun game at my local game shop for which I wrote an adventure. I hope to post that adventure here by this weekend. I also will write up a post about how the Day of Fudge went for me, because I used a more objective approach to Fudge and I had a great time running the system.

June 7th to the 9th I was in Palo Alto, California. I met with many of the executives and senior project managers at VMware and I learned a great deal while I was there. Virtualization is one of the technologies that I am heavily involved with, and it is always a great treat to meet with the creators of any system that I use within my designs.

June 14th to the 18th my wife Karen and I went to Las Vegas to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We hardly gambled, but we had a great time checking out shows, walking the strip, and just being with each other. I went the entire week without my BlackBerry or tablet notebook, and it was the first time in a very long time that I was truly on vacation and completely isolated from work. Thanks to my boss for encouraging me to really take some time off, and even more thanks to my mom and dad for watching the kids that week! It was awesome to be able to focus on just myself and my wife.

Sunday was Father’s Day and after a week of being separated from them it was nice to have a day to celebrate with the kids. Liam made me a pouch for my sunglasses, and Calen gave me a clock with a picture of “Coco the Fish” which she drew herself. We then ate daddy’s favorite junk food – White Castle! I love those little burgers, but I rarely indulge in them except for special occasions. Father’s Day counts for that!

Sadly, upon our return I learned that my best friend Greg suffered a tragic loss. His mother Dorothy succumbed to cancer and had passed away on the 17th. Yesterday was the funeral which I attended. My condolences to you and your entire family, Greg. Your mother was a wonderful woman and she will be missed.

So that is what June has been like for me so far. Lots of good times, and one sad event that reminded just how important family is. If you had an interesting June share your own experiences here by leaving a comment.

For now I’m just going to take it easy and wrap up a few loose ends before July starts. Happy June everyone! I hope that yours was as interesting as mine.