Home again, jiggity-jig

This morning, when Jeff and I woke up to the sound of Benevolent Dictator babbling and went to say good morning to her, she greeted us with a cool look as if to say, "Where the hell have you been?"

Yep. Home life resumes as normal.

I have to say that it was a wonderful five days at Indy with Jeff during Gen Con. It was nice to reconnect as adults, play games and twice (!!!!) I got to sleep in until 9 a.m. Until you have kids, you don't know what kind of heaven that is.

Anyways, between loads of dirty laundry and helping Jeff's mom get ready to head back to Florida today, I figured I'd just post a top five of my thoughts about Gen Con:

1. Video Games Live was a kick-ass concert. It was wild seeing some of the demo movies and the video game music done by the Indianapolis Symphony. Apparently I knocked the program off of Jeff's knee with excitement when the Tetris theme was played. Then I nearly broke his thigh when we saw the concept art and some animations for Diablo III.

Mmmmm. Diablo III. Want badly.

2. The Oceaniare in Indianapolis is a must-visit if you're looking for a good date night place. The seafood was excellent, the drinks wonderful, the service was attentive, but not fawning and overall, it was a fantastic time. I had raw oysters on the half shell for the first time and yes, they are sexy to eat. There's this sour tang initially and then, when you start chewing, it's just rich and briny and good. Me likey. Me likey a lot.

Like Ruth Chris and other steak joints, you ordered the side dishes with your meal. And even at the "small" portion, they were too big for me and Jeff to finish. Next time (and there will be a next time), we're taking another couple with us.

Confidential to Brian and Kat: This is a place I can easily picture you guys at, nibbling on the food and having cocktails while dressed to the nines. In other words: GET YOUR ASS TO INDY NEXT YEAR SO WE CAN MEET UP AND EAT THERE!

3. I was very disappointed in the Mikado for sushi, food and service. While my udon noodles were good, the eel was bony and not as good as other places. Other people we were with were also disappointed with their sushi for the price we paid. I've had better and cheaper sushi in Madison.

4. The Omni continues to delight me as a good home base for Gen Con. What amused me is that the waiters at the restaurant remembered me from two years ago -- and they continued to give good service during breakfast. The rooms are pretty big, the beds were alright (even though home is still the preferred place to rest my head), if you're a Select Guest there's free wi-fi (and it's not hard to be a select guest) and it was overall a nice place to stay. If you can't get the hamster tube hotels that connect to the convention center, the Omni's not a bad way to go.

5. There's something sexy when you see your husband wearing a RPGA judge's shirt. Or maybe that's just me.

Oh, and a special addition:

6. I'm liking D&D's fourth edition and Living Forgotten Realms promises to be a lot of fun. I feel like this weekend (plus past games) have really made me feel comfortable in the new system. I can't wait to play more of Fourth Edition now.