Not gonna lie. The U2 thing made me happy. I am such a dork. Also: my summers were basically all the same as yours minus having swimming pools anywhere near our houses. I hope my kids grow up having awesome summer memories.

Nerdy babies FTW! I haz two of my own. Son (who you've met, at PAX when he was teeny weeny) is now 3 and is changes superhero outfits about 300 times a day. Daughter is 6.5 and practically runs her own D&D games, and is writing her own comic books. We are happy nerdparents. PS I think without the Twilight Zone pinball you will still be the awesomest uncle because DUH you have doggies and dice. Young children need barely anything else. (Food = optional.)

Great idea! Checking it out now! :)

You ought to make this a stupid cell phone video, at the very least.

Wow! Are they already casting the next Spider-Man movie? You'd make a rad Peter Parker, the later years. ;) PS Good luck!

I totally tried posting a response to this when you posted the thing, but there was a fail moment. So here I am again. :) Anyhow, we had quite the gaming group in college, and in fact I attribute our gaming group to bringing my husband and I together (I remember the exact moment: while playing Vampire: The Masquerade we found ourselves facing a hovercraft. This of course required me to quote from Monty Python "My hovercraft is full of eels!" Which prompted my now-husband to respond "I will not buy this record, it is scratched!" By the end of college, and after many all nighters playing stupid games like Risk (which I now refuse to play because of how long that thing takes) we eventually parted ways, and broke ties over dumb stuff with the main friend who organized everything. A few years later, after drifting apart a little, and all becoming serious hermits, we realized that while the glue that held our friend group together back then was no longer a part of our lives, we couldn't let the gaming go away forever. So we started up again seriously about 3 years ago. And we've been playing (D&D mainly) regularly, ever since. In fact, we just wrapped up our 3 year long campaign a few weeks ago. It was bittersweet, but over the years we were playing, we made new friends and socialized, often. It was great! So anyway, that's what I wanted to share. :)

There is so much win to this I just don't even...

That was really fun! Thanks for sharing your nerdy, yet strangely totally normal office with us. :) My only comments regarding the technical stuff has all pretty much been stated already. I'm late to the party. :(

Actually I think I did that math wrong. 21 days.

NaNoWriMo commence in T-20 days. Also commence: FREAKING OUT ABOUT IT.

I want to go to there.

We don't have a lot of extra funds right now, because we just bought a house, or I'd love to help raise funds. Instead, the bit of extra funds we DO have is going to go to adopting our own doggy dog. We're still settling in and fixing things around the house, but once we're ready we'll be bringing home a shelter dog too. Good luck with the fundraising this year! And lots of love to your puppy! :)

We had a really fun time with friends, meeting new people, handing out our "friendship cards" (which was a WIN, everyone should do that), and playing tons of games. I got to go to concert for the first time EVER, and it was awesome. We made it to one whole panel, and avoided most lines. We came away with some fun loot including Axe Cop, pretty much the best game we've purchased since Fluxx. Seriously, check it out. Otherwise, thank you for being awesome, as always, and thanks for the secret photo you signed. It will be hung in my new house with much smirking. I will report back on my husband's reaction (probably a form of disgust and eye rolling.) Meanwhile, I took The Greatest Photos Ever this year, with only my camera phone. Delight in their amazing quality! http://www.flickr.com/photos/nwc_orca/sets/72157627549087056/ (None with you because I spaced, but oh well.)

Happy birthday, blog! Thanks for writing an entertaining distraction. As a stay at home mom I like to pop in and check on teh intarwebz to see what other people are doing all day. When I see a post from you it brightens my day a bit more. I've always said as long as I've been reading your stuff, that you're an inspiration to me, and it's no lie. Keep up the good work, and ignore those dudes in the past. They were jerks.

Well DUH. I just realized that you said you came home with 10 lbs of dice and posted a freaking photo. GO ME. *facepalm*

YES. I have so many extra dice that never get used, you can totally have them. Any ideas how many you have right now? Any recent pics? I'm curious to see the collection. :)

YES. THIS. That was the year we brought my toddler to PAX so OF COURSE that was the year everyone contracted the plague. Copious amounts of hand sanitizer and visiting the bathrooms to wash hands vigorously saved our butts last year.

Wow. What is up with your hair in that pic? Did you even shower? LOL! Oh, the 80's. I will totally come say hi at PAX. I mean, assuming the line doesn't make me want to barf. This year we're hoping to avoid too many lines (LOL is that possible??) But I want to bring you dice. See you soon, PAX and Wil! :)

If I had been drinking milk it would have snorted out of my nostrils right now. Buwhahaha! That episode, seriously.

Epic clown sweater is epic, yet Spock is still not impressed! Happy Birthday! My little sis shares your day of escaping the womb, so it's easy for me to remember my favorite (ok, second fave after my hubby I guess) nerd's birthday. Hope it's wonderful, and clown-free!

Ryan is going to remember that experience for his entire life and has you to thank for it! That's so rad! Way to go being The Most Awesome Dad in the History of the Universe! I can't wait for >REDACTED< :) PS PAX IS IN ONE MONTH!

I agree with THE Kandiman, there. Once I got to know you via PAX, and ECCC, I realized how AWESOME you are, and how down to Earth. You understand what it's like to be on our end, as nerdy fans facing celebrities, and give us each a moment of your ACTUAL attention, not just a vague autograph session. In addition, you are a warm, friendly individual, and it's awesome to see that. It too, pisses me off when a celebrity acts like an ass to their fans. And not even because we're "paying their wages therefore you must perform" but because you should be a decent human being and follow Wheaton's Law. Thanks for being rad, Wil.

Ha ha! Your post just caused severe LOLs. I used to have kitties until said allergies, I think you mentioned something about them?...caused me to send all kitties to other loving homes. My cat only ate when people were around, and also took toxic craps. Luckily we hid his litter box in a closet, but STILL. They were gnarly. Also: go to hell, trees, I'm sick of you.

Yes, plz.

The stealy stuff is super evil. I can't believe there are people who think that's okay. WTF? Did you buy ice cream???