GregHowley.com

It's spring, the rain has finally stopped, and I'm excited about the good weather. Finally. Granted, my four-year-old daughter has developed crippling allergies over the past week and her eyes are practically swollen shut, but eyedrops and crushed-up pills are helping. Besides, I'm here to trumpet the good, not dwell on the minor misfortunes. Here's what i'm presently excited about.

New Phone
I really love my original Moto X, despite having gotten it used after it had been on the market already for two years. I'd originally intended to keep it for a few months and then move to a better phone. I just ended up loving it so much that I still have it a year and a half later. But it's getting old, slow, and extremely laggy. This week, Republic Wireless just announced that they're going to have new phones in July. I'm all over it. I love paying $25/month for unlimited talk and text, and the plan I just switched to upgrades me to 4g and should end up actually costing less than that since I'm on wifi most of the time.

Now, I just need to decide which phone. The Moto X Pure Edition looks great - it would be a no-brainer if it weren't so massive. I don't know if I can deal with a 5.7" screen. There are Samsung and LG models which have smaller screens, but I've had Samsung phones and didn't love them. Also, they cost a lot more, and the specs are comparable or worse. Is the smaller screen worth that to me? Not sure.

Captain America: Civil War
I haven't yet seen the movie, but I know I'm going to soon, and I can't wait.

Sentinels of the Multiverse Kickstarter
I just backed the Sentinels Season 2 Kickstarter, and it looks very cool. Since I've got so little time for games, this is one of the very few I find time for, since I can spend ten minutes playing and finish a game later if I need to get up and deal with a screaming kid.

Warmachine Mk3
Warmachine is another topic I've written about. It's my new hobby. I seldom get free time, but when I do, I really enjoy painting miniatures. That's something I used to do a lot in the 90s, when I played D&D regularly. One great thing about the models I'm now working with is that they'll retain their value, and since I'm painting them they'll actually be worth more when I'm done with them. Should I ever decide to sell what I've got, I should be able to get more than what I paid.

It seems that I joined the hobby just at the end of an edition. The third edition of Warmachine rules, which people are terming "mark 3", comes out in June. This means everything will be completely rebalanced, and the things in the game that nobody used because they were underpowered will likely be viable, and the overpowered things that everyone hated should be far more managable.

I've been really enjoying Commander Adept Nemo, despite never having won a single game with him, so I'll be happy when they release rules for him in which he's not hot garbage. Click the link to see the miniature I painted.

Steven Universe
I'm not even sure how they qualify seasons with this show, but more episodes start airing tonight. I've written about Steven Universe before, so I'll keep this brief. It's a show my whole family can watch together, I really enjoy the show's music, and it joins Avatar: The Last Airbender as the only kids show I'd watch by myself even if I didn't have kids to watch it with.

Disneyworld and Free Food
We've been saving up for about two and a half years for the DisneyWorld trip we're taking later this year. It will be literally the first time Linda and I have taken the girls on a vacation where we didn't visit family. And last night, we just found out that we somehow got a free food package, which people pay something like $1200 for. Free. Gadzooks - I'll take it.

MathQuest
We also found out this week that my daughter - who is turning 9 in a few weeks - got into the school's MathQuest program. Apparently over the past few years, no kids at her school have qualified. She'll be taking math classes two years ahead of her grade level. She must have gotten the smartity from Linda, cause it ain't from me.