The Pen That Got Away

I’ve written before on this site regarding my obsession with pens. This is the story of my favorite ever pen, the one that got away.

The Drive Home

I went to college at Virginia Tech, about a three-hour drive from my hometown of Knoxville. As is true for most people, the transition from high school to college was exciting and scary all at once. At the end of my very first semester, the very last exam I had to take was Introduction to

The New Republic

I was really into Star Wars when I was younger. Like, really into it. I watched all the movies, I read all the books, and of course I played all the video games.

The Contingency Employer

In an unfortunate turn of events, I found myself laid off while living in New Zealand. What’s a guy to do? That employer was my first job out of university, and I’d held that position for eight and a half years. I had never found myself unemployed before.

Axis and Allies

When I was in Boy Scouts (now just called Scouts), my Scoutmaster owned a game store. Not as in video games, but as in tabletop and board games. As you might imagine, his enthusiasm for such games rubbed off on his young charges.

The Road to a Marriage, Part 4

I’ve been slowly telling the story of how I proposed to my wife. Last time I told about buying the ring. This time I’ll tell the story of finding the location. Side note, this post is going up on the anniversary of our engagement! I had thought maybe by this time I’d actually be telling

The Camporee

Summer camp was pretty cool. Hikes and backcountry camping trips were our bread and butter. But the event of the year for Boy Scouts was the Camporee (pronounced camp-o-ree).

The Crock Pot Battle

When we got married, my wife and I both owned Crock Pot slow cookers. Both of us had received these cookers from our parents; I don’t know about hers, but mine had actually been given to my parents as a wedding gift. Both of us feel quite fondly toward them. Our family of two does

What happened to the Nine Rings at the end of the Second Age?

After Sauron’s defeat at the hands of Elendil and Gil-Galad in the last alliance of Elves and Men, his body was destroyed. It would take him nearly a thousand years to regain power, and over two thousand years to fully reincarnate in Middle-earth. During that time, the Nazgûl retreated to the East, then slowly began

The importance of escapism (or: why obsess over Tolkien’s work)

Amanda Hocking once wrote, “I like to obsess over things that don’t matter because it’s more fun than obsessing over things that do.” I think there’s a germ of incredible truth to this statement[1].