K. L. Zolnoski

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A Nerd In The Garden: The Rains Have Come

This week the rainy season got started in ernest. It began with a day of spritzing and grew slightly heavier each day until we have a steady all day rain falling. It might be tempting to think it's time to put the gardening tools away and relax but now is the perfect time to weed out the large flower bed. The steady rains have made the soil soft enough to get the roots out with the weeds. Getting as many of the roots as possible will keep the return weed numbers way down. It also creates more room in the…

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Dragons of Tarkir Additions to some Decks

Dragons of Tarkir Additions to some Decks

Ojutai’s Command

Those who follow Magic: The Gathering know that the new expansion set Dragons of Tarkir shipped last week. Personally I was excited to get my grubby little paws on this set because it promised a lot of dragons. Honestly, who doesn’t like a lot of dragons?

So I got my hands on a box and had an enjoyable evening opening packs and reading cards, looking at art and enjoying the…

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At Long Last, Our Hawaiian Honeymoon

At Long Last, Our Hawaiian Honeymoon

Mai Tai with little Umbrella

Breaching Whale

When we got married, my love and I chose not to start our lives in debt by going on an expensive honeymoon. Instead we made a promise that someday we would go to Hawaii. That day came and we chose Maui to spend four wonderful days with each other.

I had never been to a warm water beach before. My love, wisely, decided not to book us up for the first…

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Magic: The Gathering, Esper

Magic: The Gathering, Esper

Sphinx of the Steel Wind

While playing The Cube I discovered many cards that cried out to be put in decks. Several of them required new decks since they did not fit into my limited number of leftover decks when I reentered the world of playing Magic. One of those cards was the Sphinx of the Steel Wind.

The Sphinx of the Steel Wind is an Artifact Creature – Sphinx that costs BUW5 to cast and is…

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The Road Less Travelled to Hana

The Road Less Travelled to Hana

Black Sand Beach, Maui

Random Flora, Maui

Our first time to Hawaii we visited Maui. Four days of adventure lay ahead of us and we excitedly poured over books and maps trying to decide what we could see, what we wanted to see, in the time allotted. We also chatted with a lovely lady at the Resort about some of the things we had read about that we wanted to see.

We discovered that she was from the…

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Magic: The Gathering; Dimir, My Process for Deck Building

Magic: The Gathering; Dimir, My Process for Deck Building

Hythonia the Cruel

Everyone has their own, unique, process for building a deck when it comes to Magic. Even people who build competitive, tournament decks have their own approach, that is part of the beauty of the game, that it taps into creativity on the part of the players. This also causes people to become attached to their decks. They built them, they play them, it’s something they are…

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Magic : The Gathering About that Orzhov Deck

Magic : The Gathering About that Orzhov Deck

Obzedat, Ghost Council

Just the week before Christmas 2014 I got back into playing Magic: The Gathering. I dusted off my two old decks and after several painful defeats reworked them, taking out some old cards and putting in some new ones. I’ve been having so much fun I decided to make a new deck with all new cards.

I started with a couple cards I knew I wanted to play and then as I chose cards…

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The Continuing Story of a Betta Named Gipsy Danger

The Continuing Story of a Betta Named Gipsy Danger

Gipsy’s new tank

Degarla, alas my Degarla. As it turns out Degarla was a girl snail. Ebriah was not a girl snail. I discovered this when I checked the tank on Christmas morning to feed everyone and there was a gift of a clutch of eggs left on the edge of the tank. It didn’t take any time at all to discover that Degarla was the generous one who left the gift.

What I did not know was that…

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Magic: The Gathering --Speaking of Johnny Decks

Magic: The Gathering –Speaking of Johnny Decks

Avacyn, Angel of Hope

Last time I wrote about my Fallen Angel deck, now named Rakdos. I seem to recall that I promised I’d write up my Angel deck, now called Azorius(Blue and White). This is my slowest deck. The mana threshold went up from 5 to 7 when I rebuilt it and there is very little acceleration to be found playing Blue or White. I also didn’t want to dilute the deck by putting too many…

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Bonus Pictures From Cons

Bonus Pictures From Cons

Some photos from a couple of Cons past that may or may not have made it into posts. And one random picture of Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, because SCIENCE!

Steampunk ECCC2014

ECCC2014

More Steampunk ECCC2014

Midna with Cursed Midna RCCC 2014

Scarlett Witch RCCC2014

Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman RCCC2014

Pacific Rim Cosplay including Newt and Gottlieb. RCCC2014

Ronin and Star Lord RCCC2014

Dalek

Wo…

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A Productive Superbowl, Writing was done Well, gentle reader, despite Seattle throwing away the Superbowl with that last play call, I got a lot done tonight.

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Portland Comic Con 2015 A Late but Great Review

Portland Comic Con 2015 A Late but Great Review

Mothra cosplay w/thanks to S. Shadow’s Natural Photography

Wizard World’s Portland Comic Con happened at the Portland Convention Center in Portland, Oregon January 23, 24 and 25. Yes I’m a week behind and I do apologize, gentle reader. So many amazing things happened at the con and I did tweet one or two of them, and now I’d like to write them up properly.

Inspector Gadget Portland Comic Con…

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A Prodigal Magic: The Gathering Player Returns To The Game

A Prodigal Magic: The Gathering Player Returns To The Game

Rukh Egg

Well, that would be me. I stopped playing just after Mercadian Masques came out (has it been so long?). I had started playing Magic: The Gathering right after The Dark came out, so not a bad run but life got busy and I didn’t have the time or the money to keep up and it kind of fell by the wayside.

So fast forward to the week before Christmas and my family, after months of badgering,…

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Ghost Shrimp, Vashta Nerada, Catfish, Gallifrey and Gipsy Danger--Yeah

Ghost Shrimp, Vashta Nerada, Catfish, Gallifrey and Gipsy Danger–Yeah

Ghost Shrimp named The Vashta Nerada

A blue and red crown tail betta named Gipsy Danger (once again, don’t judge me), is the first pet I’ve had in 20 years. I have a lot of repressed pet love that is being showered on this particular betta. Gipsy has a 5.5 gallon tank, into which I’ve placed two mystery snails — Degarla and Ebriah Horror of the Deep (remember – no judging). I have so much…

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Mothra Cosplay Makes The Rounds After much thought, and many second thoughts I must confess, I shared a fairly unflattering photograph of my Mothra cosplay on the Mothra fan page.

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The Flash, Doctor Who and Constantine

The Flash, Doctor Who and Constantine

So I’ve been enjoying both The Flash and Constantine. Both very different shows from each other but good in their own way.

The Flashis great for family watching. I love a show you can watch with the family without worrying about appropriateness. Unfortunately I missed the first episode and sometimes the writing is a bit dicy but overall it is a good show. The writing seems to have settled down…

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Thanksgiving Recipes, #Godzilla Review & Some Cosplay

Thanksgiving Recipes, #Godzilla Review & Some Cosplay

Thanksgiving is this week and due to family obligations I decided to have my Thanksgiving early. I made sage and mushroom dressing (never stuffing) which is always a favorite, cheesy corn (based off my best guess from Jack’s Stack BBQ in Kansas City–if you ever get to KC do give that place a try. The BBQ is absolutely superb and the cheesy corn is so tasty) and I played with my mashed potato…

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