I've been out of the loop for a while, but finally had a chance to read my
mail from the last month or so.  Leaving the best for last, I thank all you
BPers for bringing a smile to my face.  Forgive me if my input on a few
discussions is a bit tardy...

Now, I'm just a youngen, so I don't remember Block City, but I do remember
playing with Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, and Legos as a child.  My brother
and I had an awesome Lego collection in an extra-large tool chest-type box
that we could carry around the house (leaving Legos everywhere --
especially as the pieces got smaller).  I built all types of buildings and
cities in every room in our home only to have my brother destroy them (is
that me being victimized by an older sibling, I guess so).  Of course, I
would "preserve" the ruins or "reconstruct" the cities until it was time
for dinner.  Even today, tho I despise that monstrosity of a "Mall" in
Minnesota, I drag friends to "Lego-land" when they are intent on hitting
every GAP store in the place.  Now if I could only get locked in there when
all the stores finally close...

As for the discussion regarding an attraction to confined spaces, I
remember one snowy winter when a bunch of us neighborhood kids built an
intricate city under the snow with tunnels criss-crossing our front yard
leading to little rooms.  We could be lost for hours in there _and_ we
never had a cave-in!  And my friends wonder why I chose to go into
architecture.