Happy New Year, Trinidad and Tobago!

We are almost to our New Year's celebration!

The 11 o'clock bottle of Champagne has been opened!

Happy New Year, Argentina!

Almost to midnight eastern!

A couple of beers for a couple of dudes

Happy New Year, Uruguay!

Uruguay! I know nothing about you...but Happy New Year all the same!

Happy New Year, Greenland!

A land named because of trickery - with a population of 57,000 people. You always hold the honor of having the most distorted look on the Mercator Projection!

Happy New Year, Ireland!

Ah, the Emerald Isle...these folk know how to drink and are certainly celebrating right now! Here's some fine cognac even they would appreciate!

Happy New Year, Germany and Italy!

The two lands of my ancestors are celebrating the New Year as I write this! One day I will enjoy wine in Italy and beer in Germany...but for now:

Don switches it up to honor Germany

They don't just give those blue ribbons away, you know.

Happy New Year, Egypt!

Pyramids? Nah. Drinks! 5,000 years ago, the Pharaohs would enjoy beer in their religious practices. Tonight we drink to honor them...and, you know, to keep the streak alive.

Two more High Life bottles to add to the tally!

Happy New Year, Kenya!

Because, as we know, it's a marathon, not a sprint. And coffee, Kenya...it makes sense.

Mmm...good stuff

Happy New Year, United Arab Emriates!

Kinda weird toasting to a country that can't drink, but hey! We're all about being inclusive!

I'm kicking the Champagne - Don is having a Heady Topper. 

Happy New Year, Pakistan!

We're getting there! Joined by Ed and Amy!

Ed and Amy join us. Ed's drinking a mudslide - we're polishing off the champagne!

Happy New Year, Kazakhstan!

Happy New Year, Kazakhstan! Champagne of Beers of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan!!

Living the High Life on New Year's Eve!

Happy New Year, Thailand!

Another one of my favorite cuisines! I'm now at Don's, so just one picture!

Long Trail's Culmination...an amazing beer.

Happy New Year, China!

China - most of the world's population, none of which care about THIS New Year.

Don back to the Mimosas

While I go to some Disaronno

Happy New Year, Japan!

If I could only eat one cuisine for the rest of my life, it would probably be sushi. Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun!

Don went another way - Eastern Russia!

Don drinking to Eastern Russia

Kicking the bottle for Japan!

Happy New Year, Western Australia!

The western side of my favorite country that is also a continent!

Don moves on to the Mimosa...

Back to Champagne for the rest of Australia!

Happy New Year, Australia!

Australia, Australia, Australia, Australia,  we love you, AMEN!

Home to one of the greatest bands of all time - AC/DC!!

Don thought the Aussies would prefer beer

I went with coffee and Baileys

Happy New Year, Marshall Islands!

Marshall Islands - where the word "Atoll" gets used every day.

Don has started with Baileys and coffee

I'm having one more Mimosa

Happy New Year, New Zealand!

Every now and then I'll get an idea in my head that won't let go. This one's a doozy...

Don and I were joking around a few New Year's Eves ago that we should have a drink when the first NYE celebration takes place in the world and keep it going every hour on the hour for 24 hours. Basically celebrating with every time zone.

This year we decided to tackle it! Don did a little research, we set some rules (we're not bothering with some countries' time zone rules which are every 15 minutes), and here we go! So, at 6AM on Tuesday, December 31st EST, Don and I both say:

Happy New Year, New Zealand!

Looks like Don is going with a traditional Champagne drink

I chose to go with a Mimosa to start my day off

American League East Champs!

When their 2011 season ended with a monumental collapse, the Red Sox organization made some changes. And even as a life-long Sox fan I was embarrassed and upset with how they ran Terry Francona out of town with a smear campaign. 

That act, combined with the owners making the call as to who should be the manager instead of the GM, led to me taking 2012 off from following baseball. 

The 2012 Red Sox, "led" by Bobby Valentine, were one of the worst teams in baseball. The gods of baseball paid the organization back for running one of the greatest managers in the club's history. As the spring of 2013 came on, the Sox were unanimously picked to finish last or next to it by every baseball analyst. 

Tonight, they have gone from worst to first and clinched the AL East Pennant, shaking off the ghosts of last year.

I never lost my love for this team, but it's been years since I've felt it so strongly. Well done, boys!

GO SOX!!!!

Weekend Recap

Well, it certainly was an eventful weekend! I guess I'll start by recapping the race.

The night before I couldn't sleep much at all. I shouldn't have been surprised by that, but I was. Perhaps the 18 year gap between my last race and my upcoming one had something to do with that? Anyway, so that morning rolls around and Laura and I get ready to head out. After some last words of encouragement to each other we got in the car with Jen and Noel and headed north to the race.

To keep my mind off of things I had worked out a surprise with our friend and sometime training partner Heather: she was going to drive down and cheer us on. I knew that Laura would appreciate this, so we worked it out so that she would meet us a few minutes before the start. Needless to say, Laura was very happy with this little surprise!

Once the race starts, I turn my music on and get into the zone. It feels at once foreign and very familiar. I raced a LOT when I was a kid, so I'm used to the feeling of a race...the pre-race jitters, the nervous energy, etc. But I was 18 years younger the last time I raced - my body really hadn't encountered too many problems like the one I have now has.

A mile in I'm feeling pretty good. I had just ran a 9:33 mile, which was well under what I had been running in training and would easily let me hit my goal time. Then the hills hit. They were minor, but they certainly slowed me down a bit.

At about the 1.5 mile mark, I get a cramp in my side. Okay, this I know how to handle from way back. Slow the pace a bit, grab some water, and regulate my breathing to get it to go away. Thankfully all those years of training make it vanish in a minute or two, but I lose some speed.

At 2.5 miles my calves are feeling like jelly...there's not a whole lot left in the tank, but I continue to push on knowing that the finish is about five minutes away.

At the 3 mile mark I've actually upped my pace a bit to try to push through the last leg of the race...I emerge from the woods expecting about 500 feet left. Nope. There's still about .2 miles left. What?? As I'm at the edge of what I've got left, I just try to keep it up. Jen passes me right before the finish and I get a gun time of 34:06.

My goal for 3.1 miles was under 30 minutes which, according to the timer, I've missed by a ton. My running app tells me I've run almost 3.4 miles, and while they aren't perfect it seems closer to the truth. I'm pissed, but I take off my bib and run back out to find Laura and get her in to the finish.

Laura finishes really strong and now we have the long wait while Noel finishes her half. While we're chatting, we all start talking about how it felt longer than 3.1 and how our GPS apps all tell us it was closer to 3.4. When Laura checks her "official" time, she's pissed: nine seconds over her goal time. The nicest part was that even the 5K runners got a beautiful hand-blown glass medal.

An hour and change later Noel finishes strong and we all celebrate a race well run! But, of course, I can't let the distance anomaly go. So on Sunday, when Laura and I get home, I pull up the computer and map it out. What do I find? 3.33 miles. So Laura DID beat her goal time and I was much closer to mine. I think I was at 31:30 or so at 3.1 which is much better than what I finished at.

Now that I've solved The Mystery of the Longer 5K, it's time to watch some football!! We made it to Don & Robyn's about midway through the second quarter of the Pats game. It was a see-saw back and forth battle and the Patriots didn't look all that strong against a Bills team they should have crushed. In the end they wound up kicking a field goal to win it with five seconds left.

The good news for the Pats is that Brady and new wideout Danny Amendola seemed to be pretty well in sync. The bad news is that their o-line was soft and the defense needed a bit of work. They lost a lot of weapons on that offense and will need to work hard to make up for those players.

Next up? The 49ers and the Packers from Candlestick Park in San Fran. Wow. What a game. Obviously I was a bit more wound up for this one, but it lived up to the hype. The Niners and the Pack used to have a bitter rivalry 10 or 15 years ago, but it got swept under the rug when the Niners sucked. The matchups didn't really have the tension that they used to. Well, this one fixed all of that.

In the days leading up to the game Clay Matthews was mentioning how the new rule changes were going to allow the Packer's defense to hit Colin Kaepernick when he was running the option like he was a running back. Basically, he was saying that they were going to hit him hard and get him scared.

How did Kap react to this? He stayed in the pocket a lot and threw for 412 yards and 3 touchdowns. I guess that makes him a dual-threat! The game got chippy at one point when Clay Matthews made a late hit on Kap when he was out of bounds and all hell broke loose for a minute. The Niners held the lead until the 4th quarter when the Packers took it from them, but they were able to drive down the field for another score and finish it off with a field goal to seal the deal.

Some good takeaways here for the Niners were the play of both Kaepernick and new receiver Anquan Boldin. Boldin caught 13 passes for 208 yards and a touchdown, which goes a long way towards filling the void left by the injured Michael Crabtree. Vernon Davis was also a key factor for the Niners, which speaks volumes about the chemistry the young quarterback has developed with his receiving corps.

The defense, at least the d-line, was very solid as usual. I would like to see some work done in the secondary. There was some missed tackles and blown coverage that led to the Packers scoring more than one touchdown. But, it's early and there's a lot of football left to be played!

A Big Weekend

The NFL season officially kicked off last night. The Denver Broncos played host to the Baltimore Ravens...which was a little odd. Normally the defending champions host the opening game at their home stadium on a Thursday and the season goes from there. Unfortunately, the Orioles were playing at home last night as well. As Camden Yards is right next door to M&T Bank Stadium, there would have been a shit-ton of people in the area and parking is a little scarce. So, as Baltimore is a cesspool where you're just as likely to get stabbed as looked at, they moved the game to Denver.

Peyton Manning absolutely carved up the Ravens defense, tossing an NFL record tying 7 touchdown passes in the win, tow of which went to former Patriot Wes Welker. The Broncos won 49-27 and I couldn't be happier with that result. Of course, I'm a little biased after how last year ended for the Niners, but it's good to see Baltimore get an ass kicking.

The Niners open up the season Sunday after noon at home against the Packers. This should be a good match-up which has already generated some talk. The Pack has said that the new rule changes are going to allow them to nail Kaepernick as he runs the option. The Niners say this sounds a lot like "targeting" and they don't really like that. But, it's all a part of the build up to Sunday. Football is back!

When I was in high school I was a runner. I was on the cross country team for four years and have competed in more races than most people will in their lifetimes. After I graduated I tried to keep up with it, but injuries hit me pretty hard and I wound up giving it up. Over the years I've tried to pick it back up with mixed results. I'd gotten old and fat, and the knees weren't having it.

A few months ago Laura signed up for a 5K. It's a nice easy little run down in Manchester that her friend Jen is running in. So when she asked me if I would help her train, I told her that I would be happy to, but I didn't know how long I would be able to keep it up as my past attempts weren't all that successful. I did some searching online and found a running plan from Fitness Magazine where you can get ready for a 5K in 6 weeks - so we decided to try that.

It's been great. We're both running a lot more than we thought we were capable of, and having a training buddy has made things easier on both of us. The race is this Saturday and I'm shooting to finish it in under 30 minutes. A lofty goal? Perhaps. But it's one that I think I can hit!

Today's song is mildly related to what I might feel at the finish:

Boxing

When I was a little kid, one of my father's favorite things to do was to watch boxing. He would sit there for hours and watch two men duke it out until one of them fell over. As a child, I didn't get it. I loved baseball and football, but this was just plain boring.

But as I got a little older, I started to get a lot more interested in the sport. There was an lot more to it than just two men bashing each other's brains out. There was strategy and finesse mixed in with all of that power.

Well, SOME strategy and finesse. Dad started getting some pay-per-view bouts and that's when I first saw Mike Tyson fight. At the time, I was stunned. I had never seen someone hit so hard before. Some of his fights lasted under a minute. It was unreal.

Of course, like any sport, as you watch more and more of it you come to a greater understanding of the sport. So, yes. Mike Tyson was one of the greatest fighters the sport had seen. But he was just that...a fighter. Not a boxer. And when you look at the few men that stopped him - Douglas, Holyfield, and Lewis especially - you see that they were all boxers.

Anyway, I miss watching boxing. I think I'll have to plan to watch a fight soon! In the meantime, here are some amazing rounds of boxing:

 

Updates

Wow. I am bad at this whole blogging thing. I can't seem to get into a regular rhythm...but I'm gonna change that!

Let's see...Laura and I are training for 5K in Manchester, VT. It's been a LONG time since I've trained for a race, but we found a program that does a slow buildup and it seems to be working well so far. Will this be my gateway back into running? Perhaps!

The new car is great! I'm really enjoying the fact that I have a vehicle I don't have to worry about. I have noticed that my driving style has changed though. I used to not care if someone cracked into the Civic. Hell, I probably wanted it to happen so they would total it and pay me off. But not with this car. Ain't it pretty??

Anyway, for over a year now I've been posting a "Song O'The Day" as my Google Chat status message. Laura made a great suggestion that might help me blog more - cross post the songs to here. So here is today's song, a true earworm. With a video that is more than a little racy!

Farewell

Saying goodbye is never easy, and today is more bittersweet than most. For 13 years we've traveled these roads together and you’ve always been there to get me where I needed to go. You’ve carried me through numerous moves, two career changes, and more blizzards than I can count. Some of my best memories have been made possible because you were always there for me. You have taken me to ball games, concerts, movies, and dinners. You’ve braved the city streets of Boston and Montreal numerous times and emerged unscathed. Because of you I had one less thing to worry about when I decided to go back to college.

It hasn’t always been easy – broken windshields, rusted exhausts, squealing brakes, busted shocks, flat tires, and one fateful night in Winooski have all taken their toll on you. 

Yet still you’ve persevered. 

And today we have finally come to the end of our road together. It’s been 13 years and 122,700 miles that you’ve carried me. You’ve more than put in your time. It’s time to let the burden be carried by someone else.

You will be missed, old friend. You will be missed.

Memorial Day, baseball, and rain

Tomorrow Laura and I leave for a busy weekend of travel and fun. I guess this trip technically started for us last weekend. On Saturday we took her parents up to Montreal so they could take a cruise up the St. Lawrence Seaway and down the coast into Boston. It's her mother's first trip like this and she's a bit anxious. Needless to say, we're all hoping that she acclimates and enjoys herself.

So that kicked everything off because tomorrow we're driving two cars down to Boston to pick her parents up. Now they don't get in until Saturday, so we're going to go see a Sox game! I haven't been to a game in two years, so I'm more than a little excited. Some of the best memories of my youth are from games at Fenway, and I always enjoy myself immensely.

These seats are actually really good, so I'm a little more excited than normal. They are right-field roof deck seats which comes with your own waiter and a voucher for some free food and beer. Not too shabby at all! We are going with her brother Jamie and his wife Jenae, which will be a lot of fun! They live down there, so we have a place to stay which is always a plus.

Saturday will be a busy day. We're going to drop one of the cars off for her parents and then we are all heading back to Vermont...but this time we'll be in the southern part of the state. Laura's family has friends that are in Arlington and it's a great place to get together. It's going to be a lot of fun and I'm charge of making jello shots!

The rest of the weekend will consist of food, booze, and shopping, so it should be fun for everyone. On the way back through Rutland I'll try to stop and see the family, but that won't be until Monday. 

The only possible speed bump to all of this might be the weather. There's a large number of storms that are hitting the Northeast and Friday looks quite a bit damper than usual in Boston. So we may wind up with some scheduling issues if the game gets postponed. Hopefully we won't have to worry about this!

Opening Day

Well, today was a holiday of sorts for me...Opening Day of the baseball season!!

Every year for the last several years, I've been taking this day off to go watch the game somewhere or just sit home and listen to it. It's become a nice little tradition that I really look forward to.

Today was a good day. I didn't go to work and decided to go to the Vermont Sports Grill to catch some of the game. I knew I wasn't going to stay there for the whole game, but it was nice to see some of it. I sat through a few innings and the Red Sox took a 4-0 lead. I came home in time to hear the Yankees cut the lead to 4-2, but the Sox held them off and wound up winning 8-2.

As far as traditions go, this was a good one!

Live Aid '85

On July 13th, 1985, Live Aid concerts were held simultaneously in London and Philadelphia to help raise funds for the ongoing Ethiopian famine. These were all day performances by the greatest musicians of that time, and some of the greatest of all time.

Between Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, over 172,000 people attended the concerts. A satellite link was used to beam the concerts into homes worldwide and the crowds at one stadium could see the performance at the other. Organizers estimated the number of viewers at 1.9 billion over 150 countries, and almost $285 million was raised for relief efforts.

At 6:41 p.m. in London, Queen took the stage at Wembley Stadium. What followed has been described as "20 minutes that changed music" and was voted by fellow musicians as the greatest live performance of all time. Queen's set blew the audience, and the musicians waiting to play, away.

I'm reliving this performance today...you should too!

Sick...

I'm sick.

And I hate it.

I know, I know. No one really LIKES being sick. But there are different types of sick, and this is one I particularly dislike.

I think it's just a cold, but it has one of my least favorite side effects: sinus pressure. I HATE having a head that feels like it's four feet thick I can't really think straight, sleeping is difficult, and one nostril runs all the time. And, you know, I whine like a little bitch.

Ugh. As Don would say, it's the worst.

But, I guess it actually could be worse. I had the norovirus last year. That put me in bed for about a week.

Anyway, rest and fluids, blah blah blah.

Nemo!!

Well, Vermont was supposed to get absolutely pounded with snow today. Yesterday the forecast was for anywhere from 8" to 36" in higher elevations. So, as they tend to nowadays, people freaked out. School was canceled, people didn't go to work, stores were closing early...general nonsense.

In the end, we got about 8" or so. So far. There's a chance we'll get a little more overnight, but this isn't going to get much worse. I know some parts of New England got dumped on, and Massachusetts had a travel ban after 4:00 p.m. But Vermont isn't that bad.

I feel like people are a lot more risk averse when it comes to snow than they were when I was growing up. Maybe I'm just old and crotchety.

Meals

Tonight I had one of my favorite meals: sushi from Asiana House. Laura and I went on a double date with our friends Ben and Tawny, visiting what I think is the best sushi restaurant in town. 

While we were there enjoying a great meal, Ben made a comment that I really agreed with: meals like sushi, where everyone shares from communal plates and just kind of grazes throughout the meal, are so much more enjoyable. 

I guess I had never really thought about it, but he's absolutely right. If I think about some of my favorite dining experiences, it doesn't include me having a plate in front of me with just my food on it...it has a few people sitting around with several dishes to choose from. Variety, in this case, truly is the spice of life.

Nerves

To those that don't follow sports like I do, this may seem to be a silly post.

I am starting to get petrified about this weekend. Sunday is the Super Bowl and my 49ers are playing in the big game for the first time since 1995. The last time they were in a Super Bowl I had to work at Taco Bell and couldn't see the game. That's quite a few years ago.

I know it's "only a game" and I know that I'm not playing in it...but I'm still nerved up. Being a part of a fan base goes far beyond liking something. It's a badge of pride to be worn proudly for all to see. It's a camaraderie that you get when you see a member of the same fan base as you. It's wanting your team to win more than anything...and THAT is what makes my nerves all rattled.

The next couple of days may be long ones!

Spring??

I woke up this morning to temperatures that were almost in the 50's. In JANUARY. Now, while I enjoy an occasional reprieve from the cold weather of winter, this one was just cruel and unusual. I mean, we know that winter is still here for another few months and spring is a ways away...but this weather gets those spring thoughts in my head. I must have spent an hour today thinking about getting the motorcycle out for a spin!

One good thing is that this will thaw things out a bit. My windows in my apartment have been frozen shut, the sliding door was frozen, my car was really never thawing out...it was getting to be a mess. But, all in all, days like this are more torture than anything else.

Contests

I typically don't buy raffle tickets...cause I rarely, if ever, win. I will, however, enter a free contest just for shits and giggles.

Both Laura and I entered a contest that I SO wanted to win: a chance to go see the 49ers play in the Superbowl. Needless to say, neither of us won. The winner was to be notified by telephone today and not a damn thing came through.

Well, around 6 o'clock, we were chatting on the couch and my phone rang. As I looked at it, my heart kinda skipped a beat...it was a California number. Alas, it was just a telemarketer. But, for one brief instant, I thought I had actually won.

The point of this is that just once I would love to win a contest. A 50/50 raffle, an internet "enter to win", something along those lines. I mean, I've won the chance to buy Red Sox tickets before, but is it really winning when you still have to pay? 

Mike Tyson

While I never thought I would ever have anything in common with Mike Tyson, I now do. Today was the last part of my root canal procedure...the one that put a gold crown on one of my teeth. Apparently the crown is thin enough that one of the porcelain crowns wouldn't have stayed long without breaking. So we went gold, baby!!! I'm all gangsta and shit.

In all seriousness, it's way in the back and you'd have to look for it to actually see the thing. But, you know, I've got a gold tooth now.

I think I can keep mine longer than Iron Mike did. After all, I don't have a pet tiger.

Cable

While I was in college, I didn't have cable. Hell, I didn't even have a TV say nothing about cable.

Then I graduated and remedied the television problem. I bought a nice one. But even though I had that and a blu-ray player, I couldn't bring myself to get cable. It was just too pricy.

So I signed up for Hulu Plus, and kept my Netflix subscription going. And that has worked well. But you know what? I miss cable. I miss the shows I wouldn't watch in any other way. I miss sports!!!

My dream would be an affordable package where I could pick the channels I wanted. An a la carte package. Can we work on that??

Jetpack Joyride

I grew up as a video gamer. When I was a little kid I had an Atari, a Colecovision, and a Vic-20. I loved the digital entertainment and as technology advanced, so did my love of gaming.

Sometime in the mid 1990's that love waned a bit. A lot of my friends moved away, gaming by myself was only so fun, and it just got WAY too expensive. If you look at console gaming, the initial investment on the base system was a good chunk and then the games were at least $50 a pop for anything worth playing. And computer gaming was getting just as bad. To keep your system up to date to play the newest games you had to keep upgrading your hardware.

So, I drifted away from those games...but never quite lost my love of video games. I would still pick up certain things for my computer: WoW interested me for a while, City of Heroes was amazing, and I would break out Guitar Hero for the old PS2.

Then came the smartphone. Now, in my pocket, I can carry around a device that will let me play a quick, entertaining game at my leisure. Stuck in line at the store? Sure, let's play for a bit. Waiting for someone to show up? Why not! Not quite ready to fall asleep? Perfect!

Today I'm going to talk about one of these games, Jetpack Joyride. The premise behind this game is simple. You break into a lab at the beginning of the game, steal a jetpack, and then make it as far as you can. Along the way you can pick up coins, ride in vehicles, and dodge missiles. Simple, yet addictive.

 

I think this game has been holding up for me because there are constant goals that you are trying to achieve. And I've yet to find the end of the goals. So as long as there are new tasks to conquer, I'm in! I believe it is $.99 right now, but it tends to go on sale for free every now and then. Check it out!

Cold!!

As a lifelong Vermonter, I've come to expect the cold weather in January and February. It happens almost every year. But as I've gotten older I've noticed that it seems to be harder to stay warm during cold snaps like this. Especially when the wind chill brings it down to -20.

But, I have a nice warm apartment, which helps, and two Christmas gifts that help make it a lot more bearable  nice warm slippers from mother and comfy athletic pants from Laura. It's nights like these that I enjoy getting those on!

Times like this also make me think about how much I hate winter. At least, the really cold winters. I don't mind it when the temperature hits zero a few times during the season, but prolonged cold snaps are for the dogs.

Spring will be here before we know it and this will all be a distant memory. In the meantime, I'll try to stay warm, keep busy, and think about those wonderful warm days that are in the near future!

Epic Gaming - A New Adventure

A few months ago I went to Texas to attend BGG.con, a convention centered around board games. It's run by the folks that are responsible for BoardGameGeek.com, which is a page I frequent on a daily basis for all of my gaming needs.

One of the things I loved the most about that trip was my ability to play some games that I don't get to the table that often. I have more than one regular game group, but there are limitations to what each group will play. Some of them like games that aren't quite as complex and rule-heavy, and others just plain balk at having to learn a new game.

So on my way back from Dallas, I decided to form a new gaming group. One centered around playing the games that I LOVE, but don't get much of a chance to play. There were quite a few people in my current groups that would be into this, but they weren't typically in the same place at the same time. I wanted to fix that, and the Epic Board Game group was born.

My goal was quite simple: get a group of people together that didn't mind investing a few hours into a game that had some meat on it's bones. Pick a game, set a date, and let it fly. And there were some people that were VERY interested in this format.

For our first game we decided to tackle Battlestar Galactica.

 

This is a game based on the 2004 television series of the same name. If you're unfamiliar with the show, it is about humanity being all but destroyed by sentient robots. There's a bit more to it than that, but the basic premise of the show is that. 

One of the kickers about the show is that the robot "cylons" have developed a new set of cylon models that are indistinguishable from humans. And they walk among us. And it is impossible to tell who is a human and who isn't. 

The game works along the same lines to create a hidden traitor mechanic. One or possibly two of the people playing are cylons, and you have to figure out who they are before time runs out. And, of course, while you're trying to win the game, the cylons are trying to make you lose it. 

So six of us played this game last Saturday night: myself, Don, Aaron, Daniel, Sean, and Shane. And it was a blast. I've played this game quite a few times before, and it never fails to disappoint! While the gameplay is very solid in of itself,  the social aspect is where this one shines. Accusations fly, people are sent to the brig, and lots of fun is had by all. In the end the humans squeaked out a victory, with Shane and Don revealing themselves to be cylons who were working against us. 

I have to say that I'm enjoying this new gaming group already...and I can't wait to set up the next night!