January 27th, 2010 by Tom Alphin
2 comments »
It’s true, I am famous on the internet! To see how, you need to read further…
As noted in my recent article, I love board games! One thing I didn’t have time to go into in that article are the many ”expansions” that have come out for many popular games. Expansions breathe new life to a familiar game by adding new rules and generally add new game components such as advanced pieces, or a new map. They generally increase the length and complexity of the game they expand, and they vary from a few dollars for a few cards and new rules, to nearly the same price as the game they expand.
As much as I love board games, I am addictied to expansions! This is despite the fact that they rarely provide significantly more fun than the original game itself. It’s worth calling out a few ppoular games to see how their expansions extend the gameplay experience:
- The Settlers of Catan is the archetypal mainstream eurogame. It has as many reissues, expansions, and spin-off games with similar rules as any other game. The most famous expansion for this game is the Cities and Knights of Catan, which is on the higher end of the scale in terms of added complexity and cost. It turns a game which can frequently be completed in around an hour into a game which frequently takes 2 hours or more. I really enjoy this expansion, but it is practically a whole new, more complex game based on the idea of the original. This is a good example of a large expansion which makes you really rethink your approach to the game.
- Race for the Galaxy is a recent card game. As I noted in my earlier article, it is complex to learn but fun to master. It has two expansions so far, both adding relatively little new material and rules. Unfortunately, the expansions are pretty pricey for what they add. The first expansion, The Gathering Storm, simply built on the rules of the original, providing a little more options for growth, without changing the formula for success. The second expansion, Rebel vs. Imperium, added new attack mechanics which changed the tone of the game and increased the complexity a good bit. Overall, both are examples of mid-sized expansions which evolve the game by adding new ways to win, without breaking old techniques.
- Ticket to Ride is a fantastic game which has been recreated several times as a complete new game based on the original rules. Spin-off games in the series include Ticket to Ride Europe which is the only edition we own. Both the original game and the Europe edition have seen relatively small expansions (ex: Ticket to Ride: Europa 1912) which keep the original rules and map, but replace the destination cards used when playing the game to mix things up. These small expansions often offer the least value despite their low cost since they only change the game in minor ways. (That said, I don’t have Europa 1912, and I do look forward to getting it and being pleasently suprised.)
One of my favorite games, also turns out to be the king of expansions and spin-offs; Carcassonne. It’s simple design and modular tile-based gameplay is easy to extend and reimagine. Carcassonne has seen 6 mid-sized expansions, 8 small expansions, 7 spin-off games (one is for children) and a card game only tied to the rest of the series by name. I had collected every expansion and spin-off in the series until recently, when they released a poor game and a poor expansion in the series the same year. The expansions alone are difficult to keep organized, since they all consist of square tiles which are difficult to distinguish from one another.
Tuckboxes?
This is why I am famous, if only amongst a small number of board game enthusiasts on the popular Boardgamegeek website. To aid in my own organization, I designed a set of printable “tuck boxes” that store the tiles from one expansion so I can keep them separate from other expansions and the main game. I designed boxes for a few of my favorite expansions quickly in PowerPoint, printed them on cardstock using a color laser printer and then folded and taped them into perfect little boxes. Pleased with my work, I shared them with other Carcassonne players.
Assembling a Printable Tuckbox for Carcassonne which I designed.
What followed after sharing them on the web is a little strange. I started getting emails from folks who found my tuckboxes on the web like the following:
I already have several your boxes (for the Cathars, River, the 3rd expansion, the 5th)
I would like you to ask for the others, do you have boxes for the 1st, the 2nd, the 4th
and…
I would like modify it so I can create my own tuck box for a different expansion.
When I updated the tuckboxes to include another expansion, I added a note indicating that I would like to locate a copy of the carcassonne expansion
The Cathars, which was release several years earlier with the german gaming magazine Spielbox. It wasn’t broadly available anymore, except on ebay for 40+ dollars a copy.
A short time later, I got an email from a generous gamer who loved my tuckboxes and offered me his extra copy of the Cathars and the Spielbox magazine for 10$ shipped. I was amazed by his generosity, and the fact that someone appreciated my work enough to give me a special deal on a difficult to locate item:
I saw in your tuckboxes from boardgamegeek.com that you were wanting a copy of Cathars. Are you still looking for one, or is this old information?
…
I have all of your tuckboxes, in fact, and use them to be able to store the entire game in the orignal box, which would be impossible otherwise. … I particularly like how you have put the expansion name on the top flap, since that is how I store the boxes in the main box.
If that wasn’t strange enough, there is a
community of Carcassonne enthusiasts who are constantly producing fan-made expansions to the game. I was contacted by one member of that community who wanted to use my templates to create tuckboxes for his fan-made expansions.
Tuckbox for a fan-made expansion made by someone else based on my design.
I have continued to get ideas, requests, thanks and general appreciation for my work via email and the boardgamegeek website. It always makes me smile when I get another friendly message for my work.
So far, my collection of tuckboxes have been downloaded over 4700 times. Yesterday, I released an update to the
tuckboxes to include the latest expansion, The Tunnel, even though I don’t have a copy yet. Only time will tell how the Carcassonne francise will grow, and if I will be able to keep up with the never-ending expansions!
As always, if you found this interesting or have a question, please leave a comment on my blog or send me an email: tom (at) tomalphin (dot) com
January 20th, 2010 by Tom Alphin
1 comment »
In addition to starting the new year with a frigid swim, I also planted my first round of seeds on January 1st. Here we are, 20 days later, and I have seedlings to show for my effort.
I am transplanting some of my seedlings to larger containers.
Because I am trying to increase our yields this year and the garden is doubling in size, I invested in a number of supplies to help establish stronger seedlings indoors for transplanting.
- To aid in Germination, I purchased a heated mat which sits beneath the nursery tray and heats the soil about 10 degrees above room temperature. After the plant has sprouted, it does not need the warmer temperatures provided by the heat mat, so it can continue growing without the supplemental heat.
- To make my transplantings go more smoothly this year, I purchased a large number of 4″ square plastic pots and standard nursery trays. I will transplant my seedlings from the germination trays to these larger pots as they get too large for the starter trays.
- To keep the plants from becoming spindly in their search for adequate sunlight, I invested in supplemental lighting. I chose generic 4′ Fluorescent fixtures from Home Depot designed to hang from a chain. I selected a fixture which uses the newer and thinner “T8″ bulbs as they are more energy efficient. I did not buy specialty “grow bulbs”, as my cursory research online indicated that they weren’t significantly better, while almost 10 times as expensive. As they are on a chain, I can adjust the light so it nearly touches the leaves of the seedlings. From my investigations, it appears that seedlings need to be within 2-3 inches of the flourescent bulb to get adequate lighting and grow a thick, healthy stem.
- To suspend the light fixtures and organize the plants, I purchased a Stainless Steel Wire Rack shelving unit. It is 18 inches deep and 4 feet wide. This allows 4 standard seedling flats per shelf, and easily accommodates the 4′ fluorescent fixtures.
I will use this approach to raise many of the plants commonly started indoors like Tomatoes and Peppers. They will grow indoors for months under supplemental light before they are ready to go outside. The tomato plants I started earliest may need to be transplanted multiple times, from their 1″ starting pod, to a 4″ pot, and may need a 1/2 gallon pot before transplanting it outdoors.
I am also starting onions, leeks, green onions, shallots, carrots, cabbages, spinach and lettuces indoors to give them a head start. I am planning to get them established indoors, then move them to the garden in late February under the protection of one of my three mini-greenhouses which fit over a square foot bed. As the varieties I selected are all pretty hardy, I should be able to remove the protection provided by the Greenhouse after the last hard frost which is probably in April.
January 17th, 2010 by Tom Alphin
1 comment »
Over the holidays, we traveled to see Amy’s mom in Richmond, VA, to see her dad in Charleston, WV and got to see my parents before and after our east coast trip as they came out to Seattle for the holidays. It was a lot of traveling, but one of the things we managed in between family time was to see some friends in Richmond.
One of the couples we got to spend some time are Amy’s best friend from forever Eva and her husband William. They live in Philly but they were visiting family in Richmond as well. We saw them twice and talked at length about what was going on in our various lives. Somehow, one of hiking trips Amy and I took some years ago came up, as we encountered an unusually dressed person on the trail that day. William found this extremely entertaining, and he portrayed our story today on his illustrated blog.
View our story on his blog, or see his latest drawing’s on William’s amazing illustrated blog, Drawing on Experience.
Backstory: For what it’s worth, the hike when this occured was on June 11, 2006 when we hiked up Sunrise Mountain towards Scorpion Mountain. That day we got chased off the mountain by a thunderstorm, so we started hiking back to the car after a satisfactory lunch near the top of Sunrise Mountain. On the way back, I was hiking a little ways in front of Amy and Brendan, and I said hello when I saw someone coming up the trail around a bend. When they got around the bend, I realized that the person was a nude male in his 40′s or so, carrying a backpack. I never made it far enough down to see if he was wearing shoes. I was baffled by his lack of apparel, but continued discussing the weather. “Be careful up there.”, “Oh, don’t worry about me, I think the storm is passing.” as if there was nothing unusual at all. When Amy and Brendan caught up, they were having a harder time containing themselves. We hiked on, certainly out of sight and maybe out of earshot and completely lost it, laughing out loud. We discussed the experience after the fact, and none of us were offended by the encounter, it was just unusual, and funny. I don’t know who we encountered this day, but there is atleast one nude hiker in the Seattle area who has a website where he explains why he choses to hike this way.
January 17th, 2010 by Tom Alphin
3 comments »
I love board games! Most of our favorite board games are fun to play, take around an hour to complete and are easy to learn. Most of the games we play are broadly categorized as “german-style” or eurogames, which are generally designed for families or casual groups, and the focus of these games is usually to outperform your opponents, rather than directly interfere with them.
I enjoy games which contain a balance of tactics (making the best move right now) and strategy (making a move which doesn’t help me as much now, but helps me even more in the long run). I tend to lose interest when a game is too biased towards Tactics, and I get frustrated when a game is too heavy on Strategy, as it can cause players to take really long terms as they consider all of their options and their long-term ramifications. One of the best resources to learn about board games is the Board Game Geek website. (boardgamegeek.com) Once you find one game which you like, it easy to find others you might enjoy by reading their detailed reviews and ratings. You may also be able to find stores in your area that specialize in this style of games. Their staff is generally very good at helping customers select a game they might like, and some stores have an open copy of the most popular games, so you can try before you buy.
A few of our favorite games:
Ticket to Ride is very easy to explain, but difficult to master. The game is played on a map with cities connected by possible rail routes. You start the game with tickets, each containing two cities which you are trying to connect. You connect the cities by laying town track between cities. You pay for the track by collecting resource cards of the corresponding color. The game ends when the first player runs out of track, and the player witht he most points from track and completed tickets wins.
Carcassone is a fast paced game where each player in turn adds a tile to the countryside, laying claim to fields, roads and cities as they go. As these features get completed, players earn points, and the highest score wins.
Settlers of Catan started the eurogaming revolution here in the US. It is a fairly complex game to teach, but once you get the hang of it, it can be a lot of fun. You begin with two settlements which are surrounded by the resources grain, brick, wood, sheep and ore. Each resource has a die roll associated with it, and you get resources when the corresponding numbers are rolled. You use resources to compete for roads, additional settlements, cities and more. The player who earns 10 points first wins.
Race for the Galaxy is actually a card game, abeit a complicated one. In this game, you are competing to control the galaxy by establishing settlements and developing enhancements to your operations. There are many different ways to succeed at the overall goal whihc is to have the most points, and in most games you employ more than one strategy. A complicated set of rules and symbols make this game particularly difficult to learn, but the great variety of strategies has kept us coming back after more than 60 games.
These are just a taste of the interesting games that are out there. If you are interested, you can see all the games I own and most of the games I have played by finding my page or my collection of games on the BoardGameGeek website.
January 16th, 2010 by Tom Alphin
1 comment »
You may have noticed some changes in how my blog looks after my recent changes. The most notable changes are:
- A revised page header which includes a new “search” capability and a different treatment for the title text.
- Different fonts for article titles and text. In particular, i spent some time getting the hyperlink text to stand out from the rest fo the text. If you look closely, the links are not only bold, they are another font entirely.
- A new “What i’m writing about” block to the right which shows topics based on how often I discuss them.
The final browser icon for my website.
Sadly, one of the details I spent the most time on is much less obvious than those broader design elements. I decided to make a unique Web Page Logo for the blog, commonly known as a “favicon”.
If you are viewing this blog on a modern tabbed web browser, you will see a little logo for each web page in the tabs. If I make no effort as a web designer, a generic logo is provided by the browser. I decided this wasn’t good enough, and wanted to create something attractive but simple. This was a difficult challenge, as you are limited to 16×16 pixels, which is excruciatingly small.
My inspiration for the logo is the strongly typographic logos used by a variety of web services today such as Facebook, Google and Bing. I wanted something that fit somewhere between a literal ”letter in a box” and an abstract ”logo”. I particularly liked the idea of text bleeding off the edge of a logo since it feels less rigid.
Browser icons from several popular web services.
As you can see, I went through several iterations before designing the final logo. (I also tried a similar concept using the whole word “tom”, but 16 pixels was inadequate to fit the word in a readable manner.) The final design is unique enough to aid in quick recognition, but is still logically tied to my name and the web site identity, since it uses the same color palette.
Since my WordPress theme came with a logo (left), I decided to make a more personal logo.
January 13th, 2010 by Tom Alphin
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I have moved my blog over from the Blogger platform to WordPress. I chose wordpress as it is well known for good typographic control and extensibility.
I think it will be flexible to achieve my goal for the blog, showcasing all of my posts at the tomalphin.com website, but eventually offering readers who only care about one of the topics I discuss to read and subscribe to just that part of the blog. I hope that wordpress will allow me to use a slightly different visual style for each of these sub-pages.
In the meantime, please excuse the rough edges. I plan to personalize the template soon to give it a personal feel. I just picked the first decent template I found.
January 12th, 2010 by Tom Alphin
1 comment »
I thought it would be useful to include the schematic I used in building my newest addition to the garden in the form of three 7″ tall 4′x4′ raised garden beds which I built in the fall. You can make two raised beds following this template with the following materials:
-
(1) 4′x8′ 1/2″ or 3/8″ Plywood. Cut in half. (10$)
1/2″ is cheaper, but 3/8 will last longer. May depend on if you want to move it or simply provide a barrier for weeds.
-
(8) 8′ long 4″ Cedar Decking. Cut into 4’1″ and 3’11″ sections. (3.50$ x 8 = 28$)
These are 1″ x 3 1/2″. This allows you to use a complete section across the front of the box for aesthetics.
Note: In my experience, 8′ long cedar decking is between 1/2 and 3/4″ longer than 8′. I don’t cut off the extra, I just make sure that one board is 2″ longer than the other. (ex: ~4′ 1 1/4″, ~3′ 11 1/4″)
-
(1) 8′ long 2×2 Cedar. Cut into 8 5 1/2″ sections. (4$)
These are used to reinforce the corners. You could make them the full 7″ tall, but this would not allow you to stack modular risers on your bed. I will talk about these later.
-
(1) 1lb box of 2″ outdoor rated wood screws. (8$)
For attaching cedar to the corner braces.
-
(1) 1lb box of 1 3/4″ outdoor wood screws. (8$)
For attaching the plywood base, and for the corners.
- Total: 58$, with plenty of screws left over for atleast two more beds.
One of my three raised beds on December 6th containing Garlic, Shallots and Greens.
These are in addition to the 5 partially raised garden beds which I established in previous years. I built these beds with a plywood bottom because I simply placed them on top of the gravel along the side of the house. These beds occupy one of the two most parking spots on the property, so I did not want to make them permanent as they may not be desired when it is time to sell the house.
January 10th, 2010 by Tom Alphin
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I finished reading through my seed catalogues and cross referencing the offerings against my Maritime Northwest Garden guide. My goal was to increase both the variety, quality and uglyness* of this year’s garden. I found that
Seed Savers Exchange had the most seed varieties I wanted to get this year, so I will be ordering from them.
*Heirloom tomatoes are less attractive thain their mainstream siblings, but can be more flavorful.
|
Item
|
Price |
| Kraft White Self-Sealing Env. , 50 Envelopes (3.25×4.75″) |
$5.00 |
| Collection, Sunflower |
$13.50 |
| Carrot, Danvers OG, Packet 250 seeds |
$2.75 |
| Arugula, Sylvetta , Packet 500 seeds |
$2.75 |
|
Broccoli, DeCicco , Packet 50 seeds
|
$2.75 |
|
Broccoli, Romanesco , Packet 50 seeds
|
$2.75 |
| Lettuce, Reine des Glaces OG, Packet 250 seeds |
$2.75
|
|
Pepper, Marconi Red , Packet 50 seeds
|
$2.75 |
| Chard, Five Color Silverbeet OG, Packet 100 seeds |
$2.75 |
| Runner Bean, Sunset , Packet 25 seeds |
$2.75 |
| Tomatillo, Purple de Milpa OG, Packet 25 seeds |
$2.75 |
| Tomato, Stupice , Packet 50 seeds |
$2.75 |
| Tomato, Siberian OG, Packet 25 seeds |
$2.75 |
| Tomato, Black Krim OG, Packet 25 seeds |
$2.75 |
| Tomato, Green Zebra , Packet 50 seeds |
$2.75
|
| Herb, Rosemary , Packet 100 seeds |
$2.75 |
| Herb, Green Culinary Sage , Packet 250 seeds |
$2.75
|
| Total: |
$59.75
|
That’s a lot of money for seeds! I need to see if someone wants to share some of these seeds with me. I will gladly share a seed packet with anyone in the area for half the price. I may also need to remove a few packets from my order before clicking ‘Buy”.
Thankfully, a seed packet will generally last 3-5 years. I am still successfully germinating seeds from 2005, and I haven’t made any great attempt to preserve my seeds. Going forward, I am going to store my seeds in an airtight box with a few of those desicant gel packets in it to keep everything completely dry. I should store it in a cool dry location to increase the duration where they will be viable.
Seedy Thoughts…
January 9th, 2010 by Tom Alphin
2 comments »
In 2006, inspired by the book “The all new Square Foot Gardening” I began gardening in earnest along the side of our small suburban home. I began with four 4×4 foot partially raised beds. They were established in the four foot area of gravel between the deck and the small road which goes by our house to access 8 homes.
The garden’s first year was the same year that I added the pergola.
The first year I established beds about 12 inches deep. I achieved this by removing the layer of gravel on top, then digging a square 4×4 foot hole to about 8 inches deep. I put the soil aside on a tarp on the road.
Soil
To remove rocks and break up the heavily compacted soil which had a good deal of clay in it, I built a
Soil Sifter of wood and a coarse metal screen called “hardware cloth”. It slides on a platform which I place over the planting area. The screen removes anything larger than a centimeter, and I have since created an insert for situations where I want to sift the soil even finer.
Breaking up the soil and removing rocks with the Soil Sifter which I built.
I added a quarter of a large bag of Vermiculite (about a cubic foot), about a cubic foot of Peat Moss to each bed, and about two cubic feet of compost. This resulted in a 12 inch deep bed of loose composition which exteded 4 inches above the original soil level.
Note: I did not recreate the “Mel’s mix” ratio of 1/3 compost, 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 peat moss which the square foot gardening book recommends; partly because it seemed overkill and partly because isn’t very cost effective given the high const of peat moss and vermiculite.
More recently, I have even greater concerns with his guidance. Peat moss is a hard product to harvest sustainably, and vermiculite is neither local or especially sustainable. My mixture, which uses a good deal more locally sourced compost than recommended, along with existing soil and a little peat/vermiculite has worked well for most of my crops. It also saves money.
Deeper beds?
I am constantly working to increase the depth and richness of the soil. My general approach to enriching the soil has been to make each bed deeper by removing and putting aside the enriched soil, then digging the hole deeper than the previous year. The hard packed soil and clay I remove is filtered and mixed with the enriched soil and additional compost to fill the hole back up. At this point, three of my five beds are 18 or more inches deep.
To be honest, I have not done any analysis to determine if the deeper beds perform better than the shallower ones. One thing I have noticed however is that the deep beds settle significantly more over the growing season. In the most extreme case, one of my beds ended this season 3 inches shorter than at the beginning of the season. Some of this can probably be attributed to material leeching into the surrounding soil, some is lost to the plants produced during the year, but I suspect the majority is simply the result of the soil settling during the year. I will certainly loosen the soil before replanting next year to keep it from getting permenantly compacted, but I do think a certain amount of settling is normal.
One topic that continues to baffle me is “Soil Structure”. The Maritime northwest garden guide states that it is important to both rotate your crops to prevent diseases which target a particular type of crop, and to not overwork the soil as it can damage the soil structure. I do not entirely understand what soil structure is, and why an established garden with a specific siol structure ould outperform a new garden with the same soil fertility. I am going to try and implement a basic crop rotation, as the benefits make sense, but for now, I will continue to rework the soil every year until I understand better. (I’m sure that this is similar to why you shoudn’t scrub a cast iron pan. Over the years the pan develops a natural nonstick coating which is difficult to recreate quickly, but easy to scrub off.)
Just a Hobby…
The time spent gardening I give up freely. At this scale, it is just an edible hobby. The value of a year’s production is probably close to my annual expense. I have estimated my annual expense around 150$ per year, over the 4 years I have been gardening. Some years I just add compost to re-enrich the soil, but others I have added watering systems, additional beds, or bought a lot of seeds.
Favorite Crops…
Our favorite crops are those which produce well with little cost and effort.
Snow Peas in the Spring and Fall and Pole beans in the heat of Summer are our bumper crop, easily producing enough beans most weeks to use in 3 meals. The back row of each of our beds is dedicated to beans, with strings supporting their growth up to the pergola.
Tomatoes are also a favorite, anthough the relatively short Seattle summer has made them iffy at best. We tend to have no tomatoes util the very end of August, when we are inundated with production. Unfortunately, more than half the flowers which form into tomatoes do not reach maturity on the vine. Thankfully, many do ripen completely if brought inside and placed by the windowsill. This was a great discoverly as we tried it this year for the first time.
Basil is also difficult as it likes hot sunny days. We tend to see plenty of it in August and September, but sometimes it does much better than other years.
Spinach in the early spring and lettuces in spring and fall. Not a high value crop, but a salad or sandwich with fresh lettuce is something to be proud of.
Carrots! (and an Amy!)
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Carrots and Onions. Again, these are not expensive crops in the store, but onions in particular grow well with little cost and maintenance, and you can cure them in the garage and consume through the early winter. Carrots can stay into the ground until you need them or until a very hard frost. It is fun to pull out a good looking carrot in December when everything else looks pretty dead.
Some years, we have gotten a good crop of Bok Choy, but recently we have had issues with either being eaten by bugs, or bolting to seed too quickly.
Peppers have never been productive for us. We tried Okra this year on a whim (and a 50 cent seed packet) and got three okra pods out of two plants. Novelty, but not something to rely on. Squash has also been tough for us. I think that it needs more space than we have been willing to give it.
Resources…
In addition to the Square foot gardening book itself which was an inspiration for my garden, The most useful guide to gardening in the northwest is the aptly titled “
Maritime Northwest Garden Guide” prepared by Seattle Tilth, a local organization which helps people grow their own food locally, organically and sustainably. It is based around an annual calendar, which a chapter calling out wat you should be doing each month of the year. It incudes recommendations on when you should start seeds indoors, when you can plant other seed types indoors and specific seed and plant varieties that have been tested and proven in the Seattle Area.
My primary gardening resources.
Beyond this, Seed Catalogues offer a good deal of inspiration, and a source for more options than your local Home Depot. (although I buy many of my other supplies there.)
- Seed Savers Exchange is an interesting organization which specializes in unique and specialty seeds. Many of their seeds are organic, and members gain access to a network of hobby gardeners which offer up additional seed varieties.
- Territorial Seed is a large seed manufacturer and distributor in Oregon. The offer many varieties which are especially well suited to this region.
It turns out that chemical/agricultural giant Monsanto bought this and many other seed companies in 2005, but I do not think that this prevents them from producing the same quality, non GMO seeds which they built their business on. Territorial Seed also has a sister company, the Abundant Life Seed Company, which sells only Organic seed.
