Custodial Cleanup and Visits

Ahoy, pirates! New posting space!

First I'd like to thank web manager Terri and web programmer Sarah for setting up an in-house blog system and for setting up both the individual blogs for all oceanmasters who wanted them, and the feeds that allow all of them to be displayed in one long page of blogged textness.

Things churn along in the office with various bug fixes and changes to make Puzzle Pirates Adventures lighter and faster-loading. We had to bid farewell to beloved Nick Barkas (boo hoo! :() as he went back to the wilds of Sweden and graduate school, but not before partying it up in the Tonga Room. The Tonga Room is amazing. It has an impressive selection of fruity scupper-yer-barnacle-up drinks, seats set up on the deck of a ship, and an indoor pool with rain at 30 minute intervals. Also, a live band comes out on a boat(!) Much revelry and the sticking of paper umbrellas in Hypnos's hair was had.

We have also been shamelessly enjoying the fruits of the twisted mind of Jes Weigand including bacon ice cream (no, really. bacon ice cream!) and lime Cephalopod cake.

Notably, we were paid a visit by the Girl Game Company, a nonprofit outreach program for middle school girls in Watsonville, CA. They are an after school and summertime project that teaches young women to design and develop computer games, and they had done tours at Google and EA. The young ladies were all very web savvy, reminding me that mine was the last generation to grow up without internet access. Pictures of the group can be found on our Flickr page.

On the subject of visits, I also paid a weekend visit to Las Vegas last month and viewed the demolition site that was once the New Frontier, where the Las Vegas meet-up was held last year. It was sad. There's a very sharp line in that area of town between the old kitschy themed hotels and the giant resort luxury hotels, with their reflective glass windows and sharp angles. A lot of the old hotels and casinos are being torn down.

Lastly, Bunnywonder (and an accompanying cabinlad whose pirate name I did not catch) visited Three Rings! She promised pictures to the forum community, so watch that space.