1. Tell us a little about yourself...

I grew up - from first grade on - in Mountain View, CA, and actually still live there (nice town!). I married my high school sweetheart and am happy to say she tolerates my gaming addiction, and even joins in occasionally. My passions (besides my wife) are boardgames and literature and though I've only been in the boardgaming hobby for a few years now, I troll the web every day for new and interesting tidbits of information. Needless to say, the whole "tolerant wife" comment above is very important! Outside of gaming I'm a high school English and Journalism teacher in the South Bay.

2. What do you do at KublaCon?

I'm entering my third year as Tabletop Games Coordinator, having taken over the job from Kevin O'Hare who has moved up in the hierarchy of the con. That means that I spend quite a bit of time before the convention talking with GMs and getting the tabletop schedule in order, then running around at the con with my wonderful assistants such as Heather making sure that everything goes off without a hitch (or with as few hitches as possible).

3. How did you get involved with KublaCon and how long have you been here?

My first year at Kublacon was (surprisingly) 2003 as an attendee. I distinctly remember Shelley (my wife) and I running across Kevin half asleep in a chair outside of the Tabletop rooms and asking him if he needed any help. Though none was needed at the time, November of 2003 rolled around, his position was changing, and my offer floated back into his consciousness. A phone call and some conversations later, and I found myself parked in front of my computer inputting events, and then scurrying around like a madman for my first con as part of the crew. Whew!

4. What motivates you and what rewards to you get out of being involved with KublaCon?

I LOVE playing games...but as a teacher I also find that I enjoy teaching games and seeing others enjoying something I love. Though I don't necessarily find a lot of time to play games at the con, the fact that I've helped organize an event at which so many people are having a blast is both my motivation and reward. Couple that with the fact that I work with a great bunch of people and get to meet game designers and people in the industry whom I respect and have now befriended and I couldn't ask for a better situation.

5. What is your earliest gaming or game convention memory?

Games such as checkers, chess, dominos, Sorry, Stratego, and Gin Rummy were very popular in our household growing up, and I can still vividly picture playing cards with my dad in front of the fire. Though a few of my friends in high school got into D&D, I was never a player, though I did try my hand at painting miniatures a couple of times.

For me, comic books were the thing back in junior high and high school. In fact, the summer after Senior year my big trip was a trek with a friend in the family "boat" (station wagon) down to Comic Con in San Diego. Talk about overwhelming and amazing! I remember getting my Dark Knight comics (the 4th (?3rd?) issue hadn't even hit the stores yet) signed by Frank Miller. I remember speaking with Max Allan Collins, writer of Ms. Tree (and, much later, Road to Perdition). Wondercon for other comic dabblings and J. Michael Straczynski presentations, along with a few SciFi conventions and ConQuest when it was still in Palo Alto were my only other experiences before getting caught up in the Kublacon whirlwind.

6. What is your favorite gaming or game convention memory?

Given that my dad passed away about a year ago, my memories of playing games with him are probably the sentimental favorites. Beyond that, however, my memorable games most often involve memories of the players rather than the games themselves. I remember entire evenings of games with my wife, or days of 2-player games with a friend like Jodi or Greg. Game Nights at our house with good friends come to mind as well.

At Kublacon, the memories from the past couple of years that stick out are as follows:

*The First Annual Settlers of Catan Tourney final game ending in an amazing 37 minutes.

*The Second Annual Settlers Tournament last year having its first round on ALL of the tables in the Grand Foyer (made a great visual from up above).

*Reiner Knizia - meeting him, loving his dry wit, and laughing along with the other fortunate people who viewed the now mythic Geekspeak podcast with Derk and Aldie.

*Shadows Over Camelot's phenomenal debut last year. SO many people HAD to play it and I think we were able to accommodate them.

7. What is your least favorite gaming or game convention memory?

Well, Kublacon CAN get a bit stressful, and my first year as coordinator at the con was just a wee bit more stressful than I'd planned. Thanks to everyone's help on staff I was able to get through it, but the nerves were a bit frayed by the end of that weekend. I'm happy to say that experience helped make last year much better for my stress level.

8. Give us a top 3 list of your favorite games and tell us your least favorite game.

As others have said, this is very difficult, as my game closet does not tend to shrink much, and I'm still in that acquisitive mode. Currently, in my 'just arrived and loving it' category, I'd have to place Il Principe, Shear Panic (gotta love those sheep!), and Caylus. In the 'still enjoying them after many plays' category I'd place Oltremare, YS, and Himalaya. Finally, in the 'been around and continue to hit the table' category you'll find Keythedral, El Grande, and Samurai.

As far as "least favorite"...my students have been trying to get me to play Pretty Pretty Princess at my school's Game Club, but I refuse.

9. Where do you currently play games and what do you play when you are there?

Currently I'm playing more games on a weekly basis at school in the Game Club I've started than anywhere else. However, I try to have an occasional gathering of friends over to the house, there's a local meeting on the last Saturday of every month (Boardgame Addicts of the Peninsula) in Foster City that I try to get to, and there's a Los Altos event every couple of months at the library. Besides those local events, I've headed to Atlanta every June for the past three years for Oasis of Fun, an invitational gathering, and went to the first Boardgamegeek.CON in Dallas this past November.

10. If you want to tell all of the KublaCon attendees one thing, what would it be?

Besides the fact that I hope they have a great time, I would want them to know we are here to help facilitate that. Half in jest, I would also like to point out that showering is a wonderful activity to avail yourself of during the con, and that deodorant is a fantastic invention! :-)

See you around!