This isn’t the promised post, but we just realized that we neglected to post about our outings over the past few weeks. Two weeks ago I participated in a Microsoft usability study. I got to spend the afternoon on Microsoft’s campus and be part of a focus group that provided feedback about an upcoming product. I had to sign an NDA so I’m not allowed to tell you what it was that I did, saw, or talked about. I can tell you that it was a good experience and that Microsoft’s campus feels a lot like a university campus. It was also amazing how friendly everyone was, from receptionists, to the people conducting the study, to random other people, everyone just seemed really happy.

After the usability study, Marie and I met up with my work buddies at Card Kingdom in Ballard. We played a board game called A Game of Thrones based on the book and TV series. The game was pretty awesome. The idea of the game is similar to Risk, but it all takes place in the Game of Thrones world, making it ultra cool. Card Kingdom was an awesome place to play this game. We had a private room for the 8 of us and the place serves food and drinks (including alcohol). They also have a huge selection of board games, puzzles, card games, table top games, etc. Much fun was had and we can’t wait to do it again. We’ll definitely be going back to Card Kingdom.

Carrie and Herbie

Two weekends ago Marie and I went with Marie’s dad to the Maritime festival in Seattle. Marie and Larry got “passports” to taste 8 different chowders. Marie was pretty full by the 4th chowder, but they had a good time with it. I would have participated, but chowder isn’t my thing. They unanimously declared Edgewater to have the best chowder. After the festival we ended up doing some other stuff with Larry and ate at Dick’s Drive-in for dinner.

For Mother’s Day we had a nice picnic at the arboretum with Marie’s mom, Carrie. We had a bunch of different fruits, cheeses, and other goodies. The weather was extreme cooperative over the past 3 weeks, so Mother’s Day was no exception.

We also started playing Diablo 3 last Tuesday. Marie will probably write up a review post in her blog at xaben.com, so watch for that if you’re interested.

So a lot has happened, but this isn’t the post I promised yesterday. That post will probably come by week’s end. Stay tuned.