I was never the quintessential athlete. When other kids were playing basketball, I was reading and playing video games. When other kids were playing outside, I was inside playing D&D. Most of my childhood was spent with my nose pressed against the TV screen or inside a book.

So when I started playing sports in earnest when I was sixteen, surprise surprise, I wasn’t any good. In fact, I was terrible. I can’t recall all of the times I was braziled, nutmegged, and bitch slapped in my first few seasons of club soccer. There were physical aspects to this inability. I wasn’t fast, quick, tough, durable, agile, coordinated, tall, strong, or graceful. In fact, I was quite the opposite. My grandma had put me in a few sports when I was in third grade (soccer, baseball, and one practice of basketball), but after that year we moved in with my dad and began our army base tour of the southwest. [Read Column]

I believe that most people my age, those within the tail end of a Generation X, are generally jaded on politics. We have left the era of statesmen, perhaps as early as 1968, and instead have only politicians to choose from. Their words and messages are carefully crafted by a team of speech writers, handlers, and managers. You wonder how much of their words and views these candidates actually generate themselves. Or are they just coached to delivery the party mantra with practiced poise and delivery. [Read Column]

Well, there’s a new D&D edition being launched today. Again.

Today is the official Worldwide Dungeon & Dragons Game Day as professed on the wizards.com website. I started playing in 1981, so I’ve been there for the launch of 2e, 3e, and (cough cough) 3.5e. Has anyone noticed that the longevity of each revised version is decreasing like a half-life? On this pace, we can expect to see 5e by Spring ’09. My own pessimism is that these revisions are for business reasons primarily. TSR’s business strategy was to create as many modules and game worlds as possible. Hasbro’s tactic seems to be re-issuing the three core rulebooks every few years in a new version. After all, those are the best sellers. [Read Column]

The NBA Finals start tonight and I am one of the few, the proud that drastically prefers professional basketball to college. In all the various subplots that are floating around the teams and players, I think that the one most interesting is Kobe Bryant and his legacy. And when you are a 6′ 6″ guard there is only one person that matters when you are compared to history and all-time greatness. [Read Column]

Tipping for service is almost exclusively done only in the United States and most countries, Australia included, think that its inane to just give an extra and arbitrary amount of money on top of the prices in the menu. In their mind, that extra 15% for an attentive waiter, timely refills, and correct orders isn’t worth it. Quite frankly, its the waiters job to do all of those things … they are paid to do it already.

In fact, when I try to sneak to the front counter with a extra $10 note in my hand, a wrestling match ensues as my wife tackles me from behind.

Well, not tipping at a restaurant has big ramifications for everything else. In truth, tip avoidance starts a cumulative chain of events that destroys the very notion of customer service at any level. Let me explain. [Read Column]