Following the Trail of Fragments

Several of the blog links listed to the right will start you on a magical, hyper-linked journey down Decipher Memory Lane. I didn't want to be left out just because I hadn't set this blog up at the time I got laid off four months ago. So, on with my random memories (hopefully without too many reruns from other lists):

Hearing about "Old Man Kaltenbach" for the first time, and having the phone ring less than 5 seconds later.

New Lunch Fridays.

Radio Free Decipher -- interviews from Richard Taylor to Wil Wheaton, pineapples, aimless chatter, and fun with Kyle.

In a span of six months, going from never having played DDR to being willing to invest $300 in a "Super Nerdy Dance Mat."

Learning that I have some modicum of firefighting skills.

Fighting the good fight to keep Bruce's grill. (And winding up with two.)

Making a friend or two in Norfolk that didn't actually work at Decipher.

Getting to visit Paramount and see the Star Trek sets in person -- even if it was the Voyager sets.

Learning to play Conkers.

Monday lunches at Chili's.

The saga of the Star Destroyer Venery, and all its subsequent namesakes.

"Not a sausage."

"Wrecked."

"But SIR."

"Simplify, simplify, simplify."

"Never not."

"Your Mom." "(Ooooh!)"

Helter Skelter.

Building my top 100 movies list.

Photos at the "Moulin Rouge"... in Amsterdam.

Becoming obsessed with The Princes of Florence. And Puerto Rico after that.

Learning the hidden mysteries of "The Wheel." And trying to "reinvent" it while working on the Voyager expansion set.

Voodoo dolls and Jesus nightlights.

Telling off Helge on two occasions.

Impromptu Sprite jingles.

Passing the pig.

Afternoon "porn" runs. (Later to be less dubiously known as "drinkies?")

Finding out what constitutes a "snow day" in Virginia Beach.

Brad showing me the famous "Borg deck," and tweaking it with him to obnoxious perfection for GenCon 98. (And the stupified look on the face of the first player I defeated with it.)

Keeping track of rain on Tim's annual Memorial Day cookout.

German phone sex commercials.

The "thong underwear vs. granny panties" graph.

Escaping to Atlantic City, and seeing in person all the places at the Taj shown in Rounders.

The Malc's review of The Fellowship of the Ring: "I never want to not be watching this movie."

Mission Specialists -- my first great design idea, and also my first idea to get horribly warped beyond my conception. (I'd do it to myself many times thereafter.)

Hawking a spitball at the White House on the company dime.

Kendrick's imaginative use for duct tape.

Keeping Bianca "in the family."

The Holographic Tal Shiar Barbering and Engineering Guild.

Watching a Guinness-certified World Record be set in my living room.

Beating a Squadron Leader armed with two Darth Vaders in a sealed deck tournament -- and going on to lose every other game of the tournament.

Closing the doors to "the big room" so that we might gossip more freely.

Coming off the plane in Vegas for the 1997 Star Trek CCG World Championships.

Being in the 4% of the population to keep their electricity after Hurricane Isabel tore through.

Driving alone in both LA and NY traffic, and living to tell the tale.

The AK Test.

Pod shit, and the importance of proper spacing when writing on the whiteboard.

Staying at the Mondrian hotel -- twice -- back when the money flowed with cavalier abandon.

Working on the Tribbles "game within a game," in particular determining how many degrees from Kevin Bacon a tribble is.

Ada.

Finding out you can turn a hobby into a career.

Becoming long-distance friends with people long before ever meeting them in person... and staying in touch now that the journey has come full circle.