I remember...

Meeting Jason and other dStaff at Star Trek 30 in Huntsville, and coming in 7th in the first STCCG "Nationals" -- my first tournament ever.

Hashing out the dilemma rules with Jason by email.

Being invited to "help out" at the Exhibition Tournament Weekend in Rochester, New York, and watching Jason lose a gunslinging match when he inadvertently seeded a stack of dilemmas under his own mission.

My first unsuspecting trip to the basement restroom, puzzled by Jason's inexplicable "Have fun".

Collaborating with Evan by email on the Useless Romulan Review.

Finally meeting Evan at the second First Contact playtest. He wasn't as blue as I had expected.

Lord of the Rings movie premieres.

Evan and Matt's "Men In Black" impersonation at STCCG '97 Worlds.

Proofing the First Contact rules sheet with Evan on the red-eye out of Vegas.

Teaching Chase Masterton to play STCCG at '98 Worlds.

Hairstyle variations -- dyed orange, shaved off, shoulder-length, ponytailed... and that was just the guys.

Job jackets.

Helping Evan, Brad, and Todd design The Borg.

Evan interviewing me and Brad on RFD before the Borg playtest.

Helge's tantrums.

Sheer terror, flying into Norfolk from Pittsburgh with Mark and watching as lightning struck the wing of our plane. The pilot came on the intercom and assured everyone it hadn't come near us. Yeah, right.

Brad's bottomless bowl of candy.

Tripping on the carpet during booth setup at Essen, plowing headlong into one of the black shipping crates, tearing my pants and almost breaking my wrist.

Escalating e-mail wars with Sandy over rules committee issues.

Thanksgiving dinners at Kendrick & Bonnie's, Tom & Kathy's, and Tim & Melony's.

Not having a phone for my first two months in-house. I got so used to hoofing it upstairs and down to talk to anyone, I kept doing it even after I got a phone.

Mark and me being accused by the lady on the plane of having diarrhea of the mouth.

The Bin of Mordancy.

Four-hour rules committee conference calls.

Trying to figure out the German subway ticket system. I was probably riding illegally most of the time. I'll never know.

Judging Continentals and Worlds with Evan.

Blurting out a totally stupid, totally broken card suggestion at 3 AM at the playtest house. It took Evan all of 3 seconds to point out its fatal flaw. I think 2 of those seconds were just to be polite.

Bad news -- that Jason was leaving -- that spawned some good news -- they hired me to be the new "dAnswerman".

A phone call from Carol with good news -- they were hiring Evan -- and bad news -- I wouldn't be handling rules any more.

A year later, good news -- Evan was moving into PD -- and more good news -- I got the rules-guru hat back.

Breaking Jason's record for tenure as STCCG rules guru.

Listening to Mark record... and re-record... WARS Radio in the office next door.

Memorial Day cookouts at Tim's.

"Porn runs."

Getting tipsy at a Mexican bar in Germany. At least, I think it was a Mexican bar. And I think it was in Germany. But I could be wrong. Does anyone remember just what we were drinking?

Looking for Grunty photo ops.

Playing the Pez Game with Tom and Kathy and Chuck.

Splitting the Worlds photo and article assignments with Marcus.

Putting the booth together and tearing it down at all those Origins and Gen Cons.

Joy at the job offer from Bill. Terror at the thought of pulling up roots and moving to Hampton Roads at the age of 50. If I hadn't already had so many friends here, I couldn't have done it.

I miss you all.