21!

You may have noticed that I don't blog as frequently as I used to. Or hey, maybe you're too busy to have noticed.. That's ok -- especially if you're not that into Star Trek, which I acknowledge makes up a fair chunk of what I post these days.

But I do still post often enough that I still consider this a regular thing. And now, it's been a regular thing for a shocking 21 years. That's right -- this blog is of drinking age... and features nearly 6,000 of my posts.

I started it all those years ago mainly as a way of keeping in cyber-touch with friends I'd moved away from after a layoff and cross-country move. This was in a long-ago, mythical time where there wasn't much social media established for doing that. Heimlich Maneuvers was really just a way for me to swap the same talk with people that I would have if we were still getting together in person, having all seen the latest movie or played the latest board game.

I'm still in touch with most of those people. I've met many more along the way. (Though let me raise the glass this blog is now old enough to drink in memory of one no longer with us.)

As long as you pop in here from time to time, actually caring what I might have to say about a new TV show, my latest vacation, or whatever? I'll probably keep coming here to write about it. (Though I suppose by now, there's more than enough material here for AI to mine my tastes and spit out a reasonable facsimile of what I might think about any given thing -- and how I might express those thoughts.)

The value of opinions on the internet are perhaps worth less than ever. But thanks for coming here for mine. 

All Work and All Play

Hi all!

You'll have to get by a couple of days without the blog. I'm heading down to PAX South to show off games from my company, Dire Wolf Digital. I'll be back next week with the regular review, snark, or what-not.

Gone Skiing

In a collective 27 years of living in Colorado, I've somehow managed to have never gone skiing. The time has come to correct that. So the blog is in hiatus for the week as I go hit the slopes... hopefully, not too often literally.

Um... Never Mind

So... change of plans.

There was a wrinkle in the Fiji vacation plans. A bit of a family crisis. Everything is okay now, fortunately, but the bottom line is:

I'm back in Denver, and soon back to regularly scheduled blogging. Not that you weren't getting by fine without me.

Moce (Goodbye)

The blog is taking a short hiatus here. I'm off to Fiji for scuba diving and beach time. See you on the flip side.

(Actual accommodations probably not pictured.)

Double Digits

Today marks a mind-boggling milestone for this blog: its 10th anniversary.

When I started up Heimlich Maneuvers 10 years ago today (and nearly 3500 posts ago), a lot of my friends were into the blogging thing. A lot of us had recently been laid off from Decipher, and we were maybe looking for a way to keep in touch with each other as we departed Virginia in every direction imaginable. (Facebook wasn't yet the widely known phenomenon that could have served that purpose.)

Gradually, the blog morphed into what it is today: a place where I mostly review pop culture -- movies, TV shows, books, board games, music -- occasionally interrupted by vacation stories. I probably would have given it up a long time ago, but to my surprise, I have a tiny handful of readers who seem to enjoy it. Thanks for sticking with me, and I hope you still get what you're looking for.

I make no promises to still be at this in another 10 years. (Especially if I ever actually redirect my writing efforts into my take on the Great American Novel or something.) But for now, I'll keep my opinions coming. I have plenty of them.

Aloha

The blog is going on hiatus for a bit here, as I head out on vacation. I'm off to Hawaii. I'm cutting a serious chunk of time out of my Christmas shopping window, but that's a "sacrifice" I'm willing to make.

So until I return... aloha!

Holiday

Hello there, readers!

I'm heading off to visit Yellowstone National Park, so the blog is going to fall silent here for a few days. I hope to return with some fun stories and pictures.

Until then!

Pardon Our Dust... We're Remodeling

If you're a regular reader of the blog, you may have noticed that I didn't post anything over the weekend. (Or maybe you had a super-fun weekend full of more exciting things that surfing the internet.)

My weekend was full of new house. Saturday, my boyfriend and I took possession of our new home. Which is going to be fantastic, but right at the moment is in need of painting. And new floors. And a general all-over cleaning. Basically, stuff that will be much easier to accomplish before we start moving mountains of our stuff into it.

But needless to say, we're very excited about the place and looking forward to moving into it as soon as possible. So all that stuff I said needs doing? Well, for the next few weeks, we're going to be spending as much time as we can over there trying to speed the day we can move in.

That means the blog is likely to become... let's say "intermittent" for a stretch here. I don't intend to stop posting altogether, but it's quite likely you won't be seeing something from me every day as usual. And when I do post, it's possible you'll get a few chapters from "Adventures of the House" rather than the typical fare.

Business as usual will return in time, and thanks for your patience in the meantime.

Gone Fishin'

Hello readers!

I'm heading off on vacation, a SCUBA-tastic beach excursion to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. So the blog, too, will be off for the week. Talk amongst yourselves while I'm gone, and I'll see you on the other side.

Blog Milestone

Hello readers!

This is the 3000th post on the blog. Granted, it's not much of a post, since I don't have too much to say. Well, nothing much more than, man, I sure have written a lot here over the years!

A Week's Hiatus

Greetings, blog fans!

I'm heading out on a vacation "across the pond" to visit London for the first time. Sometimes I get content written in advance when I head out of town. This is not one of those times. So the blog will be silent for the next week.

I hope you'll all be back for me on my return, and that you have fun too while I'm gone.

...just not as much fun as I'm having.

Down With the Sickness

I am apparently starting off my new year with a full-blown, head in a fog cold. Water eyes, runny nose, sneezing, aching, even a bit of a cough. Basically, almost every symptom they mention in a Nyquil ad. It sucks, but it's a lot better than the "holiday tradition" my family had for about five Christmases running a while back -- at least half of us would catch some stomach flu from somewhere and be vomiting and wiped out on the couch through the big day. Blech.

Anyway, I say this not in a bid for sympathy (though if you want to offer it, thanks) but to explain that after a day at the computer at work, I just don't have anything left in me for the blog tonight. But I plan to kick it soon, and will be back here as soon as I do.

On the Road Again

Faithful readers, I am once again heading off on a vacation, this time to San Francisco, the City by the Bay. I've never been before, and I'm really looking forward to it.

When I took my last trip to Orlando, I was prepared ahead of time, with enough content prewritten to keep the blog trucking along every day while I was gone. This time out? Well, sorry, but I just haven't got it together. Nor do I have any desire to take time out while I'm vacationing to write here. So for next few days, there aren't going to be any updates. But I'll be back early next week, and I'm sure full of vacation stories to tell.

So... until then!

Accio Orlando!

Hey, all! I'm going on vacation!

Blog-wise, this probably isn't going to mean very much. I've got some stuff lined up to post automatically over the next few days while I'm gone. You can come here on whatever schedule you usually come, make comments if you like, and I'll catch up when I return.

Life-wise, on the other hand, this trip is a bigger deal. It's part getaway for two with my boyfriend, part geeky pilgrimage -- we both wanted to see the Harry Potter area at Universal Studios, and do other fun touristy things. It should beat the hell out of my only other trip to Orlando, for DecipherCon around a decade ago. (I got to see lots of players I consider friends, and I did have fun... but I was still working the whole time, and didn't actually get to see or do any of the things most people go to Orlando for.)

So, soldier on bravely everyone, and I'll be back "live" on Monday.

Viva Las Vegas!

Seems like Las Vegas is an annual excursion for me. Not a bad thing, I say. Last year was for a wedding. This year is for a birthday! A friend of mine has never been, called out of the blue to ask if I'd go, and my answer, of course, was "of course."

So I'm off for a couple of days to have fun. The blog will keep trucking along with scheduled posts for the next few days. Until then, wish me luck!

Renovation

After five years of my blog looking exactly the same, I decided to try sprucing up the place. Still a work in progress, but here it is. Comments welcome. (Easier/harder to read? Better/worse? Whatever.)

Raise the Stakes

I'm off to hopefully mix business with pleasure. I'm on a work trip to Las Vegas. I have a fairly time-consuming array of job obligations, but hopefully I'll also find some free time for Vegas-type fun before my return on Sunday. The blog will keep on "maneuvering without Heimlich" every day, however. I just won't be here to answer any questions or respond to any pithy comments for the next couple days.

In the meantime, enjoy this video of what would happen if Buffy the Vampire Slayer ever met that doofus from Twilight.

Service Outage

For any of you who might have been concerned about my sudden silence over the last few days, don't worry -- nothing has happened to me.

Something has happened to my internet connectivity, however. A long and irritating story which, sadly, is still in progress. I hope to be back in daily action soon, but it's out of my hands...

Vegas Redux

It's vacation time again. Do I have any desire to go places other than Las Vegas? Oh yes, definitely. But it's convenient and a hell of a lot of fun. And it wasn't my idea; actually, my brother-in-law pitched the trip, and only then did I think, "you know, I really should take a few days and go somewhere."

So I'll be gone until Wednesday night, relaxing, seeing shows, playing poker... you know.

But...

...this time, the Maneuvers will keep coming in my absence! One of the missing Blogger features that drove Shocho into the arms of another blog service has now been added: scheduled posting. So, I've got a few whatevers set up for the next couple days until I'm back.

Thought that does mean this week's discussion of The Mole will have to wait until I return and can actually watch it.

Let's play some cards!