Episode 03 - Fricking Pikmin - 8-25-13

Welcome back!  In episode three of 'The Link Adventure', we are going to get more into the actual store down in Gatlinburg, and the friendly mountain folk I met while down there. 

Before I went off on a tangent about my booze-fueled vacation, I began to talk about the lady that runs the store – Shelly.  She puts a woman’s touch on the store, and definitely knows how to run a store.  They have a lot of cool jewelry and fairy models and such, kind of like you might find in one of those head shops on Clark Street.  The actual gaming stuff is there, of course, with Munchkin and Games Workshop stuff as well.  They consign art from this super talented / cool guy down there named Ryan.  Check out his stuff at https://www.facebook.com/WonderFullArt .

Episode 02 - Initial Link - 8-23-2013

Welcome back, dear readers!  Last episode left off with my arrival in Knoxville, TN, so let's jump right into it!

So, I was picked up at the Knoxville station by my business partner Eddie, and we drove through Tennessee to get to Gatlinburg.  The scenery out East is pretty cool, and reminds me of the parts of Wisconsin with the timberline ridges.  Knoxville was very quaint, with a kind of uniformed comfort to the buildings.  As we approached Gatlinburg, we hit a nightmare of massive tourist attractions spread out on a single highway.  Smokey Mountain something or other, I dunno.  Apparently the traffic is usually atrocious, but fate has been on my side for a little bit here, so we actually had pretty clear sailing into the main part of town.

Episode 01: Liability - 8/20/13

This is a story about a series of events in my life that led to the opening of my game store, Gamers Link Chicago.  It all started when my buddy Eddie told me he was opening a game store in Tennessee with a recent windfall he received.  It was odd to me, considering that he lives up here in Chicago, and I was not really shy about being jealous.  I mean, working at a game store has always been a dream of mine, which I am sure is true for most of the nerdy persuasions.  Eddie has family down in Tennessee, and they are running the store down there.