I've been using Backpack since the launch earlier this month.  I was initially attracted to Backpack because of the technology involved (Rails, AJAX), but I just became a paying customer because of the pure utility and simplicity of the service.

We all have todo lists - once the list gets beyond 5-7 items, it is usually a good idea to write them all down.  I've used the task features in Outlook extensively; I even used Taskline for a while, a cool Outlook plugin that maps tasks into calendar entries.  My main issue with using Outlook tasks is that they aren't as portable as I'd like them to be, even with synchronization to my BlackBerry.  Currently this synchronization only happens when docked, not wirelessly.

I also have a long list of items I track across a range of projects, some work-related and some personal.  Many of my personal projects involve collaboration with others - often via emailed lists of assigned tasks.  So allow me to enumerate some of the very cool features of Backpack that I'm currently using:

• Create pages for each of my projects.  On each page I can track a todo-list, notes, and (because I upgraded to the fee-based service) file/image uploads.  The data entry via AJAX is extremely slick.  There are a few kinks they still need to work out (especially around focus for editing list items).
• Share pages with the public or specific individuals.  For non-sensitive info, I just make a page public and share with my collaborators.  This allows them to view the page (read-only) without having to create a Backpack account.  Here's an example page I've made public:

• Access my Backpack from my mobile Blackberry browser via the mobile interface.  No AJAX support there of course, but the interface is clean enough and is well-designed for my most common use case: checking off task items.
• The killer feature, in my book: emailing items to my backpack. Each page has a unique, system-generated email address that can be used as a mailbox for adding content to a page.  I added these addresses to my contact list ("Backpack Personal", "Backpack Chess", etc.) and when I think of a new todo item, I email the appropriate Backpack with "Todo: Take care of FooBar" and seconds later it is added to my list.
• Use the reminder service to generate SMS reminder messages at specific times.  There are some great shortcuts for reminders as well.

My recommendation: create a free test account and try it for a few weeks.  If you don't spend much time at a computer, you may not find it as useful as I do.  But if you do, Backpack is a great way to keep your personal life in order.

Anyone who reads this weblog knows that I'm just a little proud of my sons Jacob and Matthew.  Jacob recently participated in the Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge at his school.  He did well enough in his school to advance to the state championship down in Salem last month.  The competition there was tough - 4th through 8th graders all grouped in together (Jacob is in the 4th grade) - and he didn't make it to the final round.  We found out the good news today though - on the written test he took to make it to the state championship, Jacob achieved the highest score of any 4th grader in the entire state.  Pretty cool.

Been listening to some good music lately, so here's a follow up to my music post from late last year.

• Josh Rouse's Nashville - wow, I didn't expect to see Rouse improve on 1972, but this album is a masterpiece and has been on constant rotation for me over the past 2 months.  Favorite tracks: "Streetlights", "It's the Nighttime", and "Sad Eyes."
• The Duhks - it's hard to categorize this eclectic band from Manitoba - think bluegrass, folk, soul, with some latin beats mixed in.  Favorite tracks: "Four Blue Walls", "Everybody Knows", and "True Religion".
• Patty Griffin's Impossible Dream - Her debut Living with Ghosts is one our family favorites and I figured it was time to see what she's been up to lately.  There's some good material here but it will take a few more listens for me to solidify an opinion.  Favorite tracks: "Kite Song", "Top of the World".

My gaming activity has been less frequent the past few weeks, but still very rewarding as I've had a chance to replay a few favorites.  Two weeks ago after returning from Salishan, Mike, Julie, and I brought out Tongiaki for a quick play before retiring.  As you can see from the photo below, this was a very odd playing as every island was connected directly to every other island.  In fact, the first 9 tiles drawn were islands!  This had the effect of quick dissemination of islanders with no losses due to sea travel.  Julie was very tired and got punchy halfway through the game.  She also forgot the important distinction that you don't need a majority on an island to score it - just a presence.

Mike and Julie giving Tongiaki some serious thought.

The game played quickly and everyone enjoyed it - I think I won.

No picture for this one, but we played Tichu two Fridays ago, and Ticket to Ride: Europe last Friday.  TTR:Europe continues to impress me and will likely be a purchase in the near future.  I think it is much more competitive, strategic, and just plain fun - plus, you get to learn some European geography.  We played with five this week and I pulled out the win, largely due to completing the 8-train tunnel from Stockholm to Petrograd.

On Saturday afternoon and early evening, Jacob and I joined KC and Rita for some publishing discussion and gaming.  KC recently received an eBay shipment of games so we decided to try one of them: Galopp Royal.  This is a Klaus Teuber design about royalty being hauled around a royal garden in a sedan chair race.  There are some similarities to another game I'm about to discuss, mainly that there are two parts to the game: configuring the racers with cards and the race itself.  Cards are gained through what is effectively a blind auction, though there is successively more information available as the auctions proceed.  Each player begins a race with four cards on a mat with slots numbered 1-4.  On a player's turn, he rolls a d4 to determine which card to use for that turn.  Most cards move a player forward a number of spaces, but there are a few that send a player backward.  One of the most powerful cards moves a player forward 2 and allows that player to move another player back 2 spaces (or 2 players back 1 space each).  We initially had the rules wrong, thinking that once a card was used if was out of the race.  We quickly resolved this inaccuracy and found the game to be light and fun, if not very strategic.  The auctions are just a bit too random to merit much thought.  It was fun to take a chance on bidding up the auction when I was holding a -2 card though.

KC, Rita, and Jacob galop their royal sedans around the garden.

Next I suggested we play the partnership variant of Einfach Genial.  Rita was new to the game but quickly caught on as my partner.  I decided to play a more aggressive blocking game, trying to shut down scoring opportunities for KC and Jacob on their worst colors while still trying to capitalize on big scoring opportunities.  It looked like we were going to run away with the victory, but they made a late comeback that turned it into a 1 point victory for us.  Rita and I were both out of our weakest color for the last three turns but neither one of us was willing to swap out our hands and give up a turn.

KC and Jacob take on Rita and me in partnership Einfach Genial.

The boys and I decided to try a game KC picked up and loaned us: Alan Moon's Pony Express.  On the surface this appeared to be a very light racing game, but there was a bit of complexity under the cover.  The odds making is a bit over Matthew's head and I would suggest playing with kids at least 10-12.

Matthew, Jacob and I enjoy Pony Express.

Similar to Galopp Royal, the game is played in two distinct phases: betting and card distribution followed by the race itself (though in Galopp there are 6 different races).  There are some interesting market mathematics underneath this game that are worth exploring a bit more.  The basic idea is this: each player is dealt a hand of cards that are colored and numbered from 1 to 9.  Higher numbers are better, and represent a percentage likelihood that a pony can "press its luck" on a given turn (i.e., a 9 means a roll of 9 or lower on a d10 will be successful).  Before the race, players take turns placing a bet (each player starts with 15 chips, and places bets in 5-4-3-2-1 amounts) on one of the horses then playing a card on a horse.  The odds for that horse go up or down depending on the spread between the card just played and the most recent card played on that horse.  The exact amount of change is determined by looking at a helper card with an odds change table on it. For example, if a 5 was already on the brown horse, and I played a 9 on that horse, the spread of +4 would cause the odds to improve on that horse by two slots.  Intuitively this makes sense as the better cards that are placed on the horse, the better the odds it will win.  After all cards have been played, the player with the highest bet on a horse becomes its backer and takes control of the horse and its six race cards.  The race is straightforward - a horse can always move a single slot on a turn, and if a card is played that matches the color of its current spot it moves an extra.  A player can choose to push the pony and roll a d10; a number less than or equal to the card played allows the horse to advance an extra space. If successful, the player can push the pony one more time.  If either roll fails, the horse moves zero space for that turn.

After the race is over, the backers of the win/place/show horses win some money.  In addition, payouts from the bets are made based on the odds table.  In our case, the bets didn't really matter as the final scores exactly lined up with the backer placement: Jacob, Matthew, then me.  I can see how this game would be much more interesting with 4-5 players where there would likely be a wider spread of betting (i.e., shared backing of ponies).  Overall a fun game; not great but decent with very nice bits.

I heard the Replacements on the radio this morning (Can't Hardly Wait off of Pleased to Meet Me) - that's something that doesn't happen very often so it must be good omen.  For what, I don't know.

Also, Julie and I have both committed to competing in a sprint triathlon this summer - the Mid-Summer Triathlon at Blue Lake.  That is if they can keep the lake free from E. Coli.  I taught myself Total Immersion swimming last year (at least I think I did, and am actually able to swim distances now) thanks to inspiration from my friend John Hibbard.  Julie and I agreed that we need a concrete goal to shoot for as a motivational source and this sounds like a good choice.  Maybe we'll do the Lincoln City sprint triathlon in September.  There, I said it and made it public, so now I guess I have to do it.

Reading Eric's list of unplayed Euros got me thinking:

1. There are some games on his list that I definitely should play with him
2. It is time for me to update my list - the backlog has grown too long

Eric, let's schedule the following:

• Cosmic Encounter
• Lord of the Rings - Friends and Foes (my kids would love to join in both this and Cosmic)
• Magna Grecia - I want to try this again after a ho-hum experience at Sunriver
• Tichu - I've been wanting to play this for a long time.  I got a brief intro to the game from KC but we didn't even complete a hand.

After baseball practices from 4-8pm on Friday, we drove out to the coast with Julie's brother Mike to spend the weekend at Salishan with Jan (Julie's mom) and David.  This morning I offered to teach David and Mike Ticket to Ride, the fantastic game from Days of Wonder.  Friday at work during lunch I had a chance to play Ticket to Ride: Europe, which I think might be even better than the original.  I'll save that discussion for another day...

Jacob and Matthew joined us so we played with 5 in all.  This is an easy game to teach so we were off and running quickly.  I had some solid early card draws (LA to New York and Santa Fe to Chicago), allowing me to focus on a contiguous long route that overlapped with a medium sized route.  Matthew lagged behind everyone, having built only LA to San Francisco, and I started giving him a hard time about drawing random cards on every turn.  He tends to get too focused on a single route and won't want to draw face-up cards if they don't help his immediate need.

Matthew, Jacob, Mike, David, and I play Ticket to Ride.

As usual, Matthew had a master plan that was beyond the cognitive abilities of the rest of us.  He built a long route (it would turn out to be the longest), looping around the west coast and through the upper half of Canada (of course scoring tons of points along the way as most of those are 5-6 train segments).  As we approached the end of the game, Matthew had a substantial lead over the rest of us.  I held out hope, holding 5 completed tickets with 4 of them being 15 points or higher.  It would turn out to be not enough though as the longest route bonus for Matthew pushed him over the top.

Mike, Jacob, Matthew and I played 18 holes of golf during the day, and after dinner we decided to try a four player game of Einfach Genial.  While I was hoping to play a partnership game, I thought it made more sense to start with the basic individual game so that everyone could see the core mechanic without being confused by team play.

I did need to consult the rules again, but we were playing within 5 minutes of setup.  This was a very open game with very little blocking happening in the first 2/3 of the game.  Mike and I competed for the lead, with each of us moving four of our colors to the maximum of 18 points.  For all of us yellow was the weakest color, and I made a play late in the game that pushed my yellow count up to 13; I thought this would be enough for the victory.  Mike managed to score 5 on his yellow, pushing him to 14 and blocking out any further yellow scoring for me.  This turned out to be the decisive play as he ended up winning with 14 points.

Jacob, Mike, David, and I play Einfach Genial.

Both of these games are great choices for introducing non-gamers to this hobby.  Ticket to Ride has a great theme and lasts longer, while Einfach Genial is an easy to learn and enjoyable abstract.  I suspect one or both of these might come out again tomorrow.