Last game night, I offered to introduce everyone in our group to the coolness that is [old school] Battletech. I brought my old 1985 box set and my dog-eared 3025 Technical Readout (with the green Marauder on the cover) to the table, and the 4 of us present that night set about a two-on-two skirmish.We randomly determined our mechs, and teamed up in an attempt to make the fight fair.I ended up with a Wasp (a 20 ton machine – the smallest in the game), and teamed up with the player running the Marauder (75 tons). We were against a Rifleman (60 tons) and a Crusader (65 tons).One other player in our group used to play Battletech regularly, and was well versed in the rules and tactics. One other had played some of the computer version, but the fourth player had no experience with the system.Our skirmish lasted probably 20-25 turns, during which my side won initiative exactly 1 time. Plus we couldn’t roll worth crap on our attack dice. In the end, the Marauder was heavily blasted, losing a leg, and then erupting in a beautiful ammo explosion. My Wasp was tagged a few times and then crippled itself with a failed death from above attack. The only good thing we managed to do back to our opponents was to blast most of the armor off the Crusader, and it had to shut down temporarily due to overheating.Since that battle was a learning experience for two of the players, it lasted about 3 hours. But the other experienced player and myself managed to talk the others into going in for a campaign of Battletech. The other player will GM the campaign, and I get to drive a mech.I played in a campaign back in the mid 80s (driving an Archer), and I GMed a campaign in the mid 90s. During and in between those campaigns, I played several lance-vs-lance battles as one-offs. I’m very excited to get to play a campaign again – this time I’m driving an Enforcer mechHere’s hoping this campaign will be as fun as the ones I played 1.5 and 2.5 decades in the past.Bullgrit

Well, we’ve signed the contract to start building our next home. So the wait, wait, wait for the city permit bureaucracy begins. We’re told we’ll be able to move into the house in about 6 months, but the actual construction time is usually only about 11 weeks. (That’s less than 3 months.)

We’ve driven through the neighborhood and looked at the empty lot at least half a dozen times before making the decision to build there. And since signing the contract, late last week, we’ve driven by another couple of times. It’s gonna be hard not seeing something happening on that lot for maybe a month.

And, since we’re scheduled to close on our current home come August 20, we’ll be homeless for a few months. Actually, we’ll be shacking up with Cowgrit’s mother for the months between 8/20 and November or December. I don’t know if this arrangement will be better than just renting an apartment, but we’re going to give it a try.

Bullgrit

I changed the first diaper on both our boys, when they were less than a day old. For Calfgrit8, I just happen to be the one holding him when nature called. So I laid him down and changed him. Cowgrit watched over the operation, as she had changed baby diapers before, but I performed the deed.

For Calfgrit4, when natured called for him the first time, I wasn’t holding him, but I accepted the duty. <insert pun here> By this time, I had a lot of experience, so I didn’t need supervision.

Since that very first diaper change, eight and a half years ago, I’ve taken care of one or both boys enough to be moderately offended by stereotypical comments about men not knowing how to take care of children. Not only have I taken care of my boys as part of a team with Cowgrit, after my work hours, on the weekends, and for the occasional some hours alone here and there, as I expect most modern dads do, but I regularly have the boys all to myself at least four times a month, from the time we wake up to the time I put them to bed.

Cowgrit works four days a month (usually every other weekend — she’s a nurse in the maternity ward at the local hospital). On her weekends to work, it’s just me and my boys all day. This has gone on for years.

I know how to cook for and feed the boys. I know how to do the laundry. I know (knew) how to change diapers. I can take the boys to the museum. I know how to pack for a weekend for the three of us in my hometown. I know how to handle pretty much everything that comes up in a regular day of being with kids.

So it annoys me when a woman who doesn’t know me suggests (or says right out) that I must not know how to properly cook for and feed my boys, clean up after playing all day, do laundry/dishes, etc. Surely I’m not the only man in the modern day who can take care of his children. Surely people don’t still think all dads are as shown in silly sitcoms on TV.

In this day and age, men have come to accept the fact that women can be competent in the work place, but for some reason, a lot of women can’t accept the idea that men can be competent in the home.

Now, just because I can be competent in the home — cooking and cleaning and such — doesn’t mean I like it. I like playing with my boys, but I endure cooking and cleaning because it has to be done. I don’t have to be good at the work, I just have to be competent. When I need to be. When Cowgrit ain’t there to grab the laundry just before I was about to.

Bullgrit