The Van-Breaking-Down-Seven-Phone-Agents-two-tow-trucks-Two-oops-THREE-Fuel-Pumps-Fail-outta-teh-box-six-hundred-bux-but-the-shop-has-free-wifi Blues

Good Points: free wifi, accessible from here. I can forgive a lot for free wifi.
Bad Points: TV in waiting room tuned to Fox News. That's what iTunes and WoW were made for.

Foxaganda Trails:
"Obama's Gonna Close Gitmo and release the terrists, we're all gonna die!!!"
Where the fsck does FNC get all those idiots?
Calling Ann Coulter a "cvnt" is an insult to vaginas.
Bill O'Reilly wears a tie to keep his foreskin from rolling up his neck. Fsck BillO and the phone sex falafel sandwich he rode in on.
Calling Sean Hannity a "retard" insults the mentally ill.
Meat Loaf on Hannity; time to delete Bat Out Of Hell from the HD

This siege of semi-forced TV reminded me of why I don't own a set. I turned up the music, risking hearing loss to keep the IQ points from leaking out my ears.

THREE fuel pumps out of the box . . . but now they know WHY: the shop's been ordering the WRONG ONES!!

During my vehicle-less stretch this week, I downloaded more ebooks for my reading pleasure. Or so I hoped. I'm a very big fan of Eric Flint's 1632 series. If you were to design in a lab a sf series to appeal strictly to me, the premise of "Have a cosmic accident drop a small West Virginia town into Thurungia at the height of the Thirty Years' War. Watch hilarity ensue." is a at the top of the list. The original 1632 is a classic on the same plane as H. Beam Piper's Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen (premise: "Pennsylvania State Trooper stumbles upon a transport device of the Time Patrol, winds up in a parallel universe where North America was originally settled by Aryan migration across the Pacific Ocean ("Aryan Transpacific"), with early 1600s tech and a church that deems gunpowder(!) a religious sacrament . . ."). Another good comparison volume of course is S.M. Stirling's Dies the Fire (Premise: "Alien Space Bats An Unknown Force shut down all electronic and high explosive / high combustion technologies, reducing the world to pre-1100 tech; SCAdians and Pagans war over the ruins . . . Oh, and Nantucket is missing."

Anyway, 1632 spawned numerous sequalae: 1633 (co-written with David Weber), 1634: The Baltic War (also co-written with DW), numerous "Grantville Gazette" volumes of vignettes and short stoies, and at least three other "163x" volumes. The first two volumes in this list are both awesome. Weber and Flint collaborated earlier on an awesome book set in Weber's Honorverse, Crown of Slaves, so I knew the first two sequals would rock. They did.

This brings us to 1634: The Bravarian Crisis. The book is not exactly a contunuation of 1634:TBW, it focuses on our favorite medieval / early modern royal dynasty: those lovable Hapsburgs! The co-author knows her 17th-century Germany. I learned more about the Hapsburgs in reading this book than I ever knew before I picked it up. Yes, the plot was okay . . . but it was BORING as all hell. Okay, 1634: TBC was really about "soft power." Building things like modern schools, while avoiding enemies like the Inquisition, the Society of Jesus and the French. Not to mention what happens when the Holy Roman Emperor (talk about 'three lies for the price of one') loses the will to live. Too much touchy-feely, not enough "Let's show them the meaning of Rate of Fire!"

Perhaps that's coming in future books . . . but this one struggled to hold my interest. At least it was better than Orson Scott Card's magnum opiate, Empire. I may give 1635: The Cannon Law a chance. Or not. Two months till Storm from the Shadows . . . hopefully eight - ten till Torch of Freedom (aka Crown of Slaves II) and Mission of Honor next year.

Once I get the car back, methinks I will see Gran Torino. You simply cannot go wrong with Clint Eastwood, marauding gangbangers and a M1 Garand. Also Defiance.
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Listening to: R.E.M. - Imitation of Life (Live)
via FoxyTunes

Notes, errata, tidbits, etc

Interesting week . . .

1. Apple announces layoffs: a few friends are affected by this, but nobody in my department. Ironic date choice for the layoffs (May 1 is International Labor Day). The layoffs are jobs here moving to Austin, Texas, folks can take the job there, or another job here, or the severance.

2. My favorite coffee shop just became my former favorite coffee shop. The vibes I got there now are totally unwelcoming, and they refused to power cycle their wireless router when I told them the network is down (other people were having the same issue).

3. I attended the Company picnic to celebrate 7 years of #1 tech support in Consumer Reports last week. I wish I hadn't. The less I say here, the better.

4. My current main WoW character, Dakatirr, has a new epic mount (pictured left).

Epic mounts are cool; they're faster than the standard level-40 mount (which is a whole lot faster than running!) and they look nice. This is my second character with an epic mount . . . and I've decided one of this character's motivations involves collecting all of the epic mounts I can earn on my own in WoW.

The Purple Great Elekk I'm riding now is a racial epic mount, the easiest one to get from a vendor in the Draenei home city. If I were to go to Ironforge, Stormwind or Darnassus (the Dwarven, Human and Night Elf capital cities) and try to buy an epic mount for those races, I'd have to have an "Exalted" reputation with those cities / races. I'm not exalted with them quite yet.

There are other ways to add to my collection. There are three or four mounts you can earn through Player-vs-Player combat in Battlegrounds (not my favorite way to play WoW . . .) as well, plus the one I'm working on right now: a white sabertooth tiger, which is earned through earning Exalted reputation with a minor faction. The three quests are very very very repetitive but they result in getting a butt load of gold from selling leather, ore and uncommon drops from the elite giants you grind on in southern Winterspring.

<=== The kitteh I'm after. Purty.







WoW funny of the day: "If you give a dwarf a fish, he eats for a day. If you teach a dwarf to fish, he'll hang out in Ironforge all day leveling his Fishing skill, not camping your resource nodes."

Berzerkeley was fun...

I went to visit my daughter and son in law in Berkeley today. Had a blast despite a sore throat that almost kept me home.
Highlights included a fine lunch at a very nice Chinese place (huzzah for Moo Shoo beef), a visit to Sam's school (Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary), some geeking about on Sam's PC, MacBook and network and good coffee as Sophia showed me how to home roast with an air popper. I even saw a home movie showing Sam giving his first sermon. W00t! Then there was that tactical nuclear oatmeal cookie Sophia made . . .

They got a new car, a Volvo, to replace Soph's Kia. The Kia was named "Inga" and she wanted a name for the new car. Given that Volvo is Swedish, I suggested a male name: Gustav Aldolph. Yes, I was thinking of everyone's favorite 17th-century Swedish King, that most Lutheran champion, general, the Lion of the North. I also suggested his formidable daughter Christina as well.

I counted Presidential campaign signs and stickers while in Berkeley, starting with an Obama postcard Sophia had. The final count was 10 for BO, 3 for HRC, and ZERO for ANY Republican.


I'm starting my Earth Day / Beltane iTunes playlist; the song in the FoxyTunes sig is headlining that playlist. Not only is the song a good green / eco tune, it's easy on the ears as I grind in WoW.
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Listening to: R.E.M. - Cuyahoga (Live)
via FoxyTunes

Starbucks dumps T-Mobile to offer free* Wi-Fi

Yes, free wi-fi at *$. Starting this spring.

Then I read the fine print.

Guys: putting wi-fi on a meter is as stupid a move as General George Pickett leading the infamous Confederate charge on Gettysburg's third day mounted. The Green Goddess of Seattle can learn a thing or two from this place. Or this one.


I can hear the ghost of Robert Heinlein laughing even now.