Friday, March 28, 2025

My Week XXI

 AI image I took from the internet. Apparently, AI can draw toilets as well as it can draw hands and fingers.

The week started out interestingly. But not in a good way, if you can interpret that picture correctly, sigh. I don't know what I ate on Sunday, but I woke up about 3am Monday morning and I was on the throne with a waste bin in front me until about 10am. I called out of work (which worked out well as it was raining for most of the day) but was too miserable to be able to enjoy it. I sat on the couch "watching" tv (ie, dozing on and off) until Mrs B came home from work.

I did get back to work on Tuesday. Our company is growing and we've hired like 5-6 new people across all the departments (Surveying, Engineering and Environmental) and Survey got two of them. They are both field techs. One is a crew chief (like me), so he ended up working with the instrument operator who I've been working with the last two years. I got the new instrument operator. Who has rudimentary training in another system (think windows vs macs). So he knows enough to think he knows more than he does. Also, he's used nothing but robotic instruments, so half the skills you need for a manual total station he lacks. But he doesn't know he lacks them. In the 5+ years I've been at my current job, I've trained several guys. It's getting old. I just want to work with someone who knows what they are doing, are used to working with me (so they can anticipate me and know exactly what I mean when I use survey terminology short hand) and who has some get up and go. This kid ambles. He's also a flipping environmentalist. He is on the Conservation Commission for our town. When we were working on Tuesday, he stopped what he was doing, listened to some birds and said something like "Oh, listen to the birds, aren't their songs beautiful?" He better shape up. I'm also not making any real judgements about him because I know I instinctively react negatively to new situations and people, period. So it's actually him (yet), just the newness. But man, he is slow. He'll get over that, I just have to be patient. But it is hard to be patient when I see signs of him being a lazy dumbass. We have a code list we use. It is about 2 pages long, probably over 100 codes, but you need to really know about 50 of them. He was given the papers with them to memorize and it is obvious he's not taking that seriously. So I'm just grumpy about that.

Outside of work, nothing is really going on. Not even taxes. Those are due in just over two weeks. I tell you, the older I get the more I am in favor of a consumption tax and getting rid of the blasted IRS and their hellhole of a tax system. I'll keep dreaming, but until then, I have to suffer. It's not that I mind paying taxes, it is the utter labyrinthine system I have to navigate to do it.

On a more positive note, Mrs B and I are going out on date night tonight. Heading out to Amigos, my favorite mexican-american restaurant. Nothing says Mex-Am like a blue cheese cheeseburger with loaded potato skins on the side :-D Even with the Friday Night crowd there, I'm still looking forward to it. And since it is Friday, I don't have to worry about being too full to work the next morning ;-)

Well, I hope you have a wonderful Friday and that when Sabbath comes (ie, sundown), that you can have a truly restful one.

14 hours and counting for me! :-D



Thursday, March 27, 2025

Mealtime (Groo the Wanderer #38) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Mealtime
Series: Groo the Wanderer #38
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K



Groo thinks he has eaten his dog Rufferto. Look at those faces! Ahhh, I laughed my head off.


★★★✬☆


From Bookstooge

Groo accidentally destroys an army and is hired to replace it. On his journey, he thinks he accidentally eats his dog Rufferto. Rufferto was kidnapped by two rapscallions for the reward and they join an army to blend in. The problem is that it is the army that Groo is recruiting for. Groo meets up with his boss and everything goes straight to heck. Groo’s recruits fight the boss’s recruits and the city they were supposed to fight against sends out their own army to destroy the victor. During this whole time Groo keeps seeing Rufferto everywhere. So when he actually does see him at the battle, he doesn’t believe his eyes, thus allowing for the story to continue in the next comic.



Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Moving Pictures (Discworld #10) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Moving Pictures
Series: Discworld #10
Author: Terry Pratchett
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 267
Words: 97K



When I read this back in ‘07, I really didn’t like it. I gave it 3stars back then, but it was one of my least favorite Discworld reads to date.

This time around, I thoroughly enjoyed this, mainly because Pratchett just skewers Hollywood and movies and it totally aligns with my absolute disgust with movies and the people who make movies and tv their hobby. Brainless, gormless, garbage. While Pratchett and I didn’t see eye to eye on many, many things, I am man enough to admit that he got at least one thing right. Hollywood is evil and does so much damage that it is incalculable.

With that, I just HAD to bump this up a coveted half star. I know Pratchett is wriggling in his grave with pleasure. He should be.

★★★✬☆☆


From Wikipedia.org

The novel begins with the death of Deccan Ribobe, the last member of an ancient order tasked with 'remembering' Holy Wood through ceremonial chanting, and the escape of an influence from Holy Wood Hill. Several months later, the alchemists of the Discworld have invented moving pictures. Many hopefuls are drawn by the siren call of Holy Wood, home of the fledgling "clicks" industry – among them Victor Tugelbend, a dropout from Ankh-Morpork's Unseen University and Theda "Ginger" Withel, a girl "from a little town you never ever heard of", and the Discworld's most infamous salesman, Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, who introduces commerce to the equation and becomes a successful producer. The business of making movies grows rapidly, and eventually Victor and Ginger become real stars, thanks to the help of Gaspode the sentient dog (who also develops a manager-client relationship with Laddie, who everybody considers to be the real Wonder Dog, although in fact is very simple-minded). Holy Wood for a while becomes an effervescent place full of humans, dwarfs, alchemists, demons (which essentially constitute the main technological device to make movies), and trolls (among whom is Detritus) all living in harmony.

Meanwhile, it gradually becomes clear that the production of movies is having a deleterious effect on the structure of reality. After Victor discovers the body of Deccan and the ancient order's record, Ginger is possessed by an unspecified entity and she and Victor find an ancient, hidden cinema, complete with a portal to the Dungeon Dimensions. Back in Ankh-Morpork, during the first screening of Blown Away (a parody of Gone with the Wind) which the senior wizards of the Unseen University are also attending, a creature from the Dungeon Dimensions breaks through. Victor fights it (in what eventually becomes a parody of the movie King Kong also featuring the Librarian of the Unseen University), having discovered that he could exploit Holy Wood magic and the narrative conventions of the clicks if he had a camera pointing at him. However, after the creature is defeated, Victor and the Librarian realise that the creatures will still try to get through from the Dungeon Dimensions and that Ginger in her possessed state was not trying to summon them but trying to keep them from coming through (possibly as a result of being descended from the High Priestess of Holy Wood). Returning to the ancient cinema at Holy Wood, Victor and Ginger witness a golden statue of a warrior (reminiscent of an Oscar) come to life and travel through the screen to defeat the creatures.

In the end most things return to normal (also because the Patrician and the wizards make it clear that they will not allow any more movies to be produced ever again), although dwarfs find themselves inexplicably singing "Hihohiho" while mining. Victor and Ginger have a last dialogue over the meaning of Holy Wood and being famous, and Gaspode and the other animals under the influence of Holy Wood lose their ability to reason and speak. The ending lines depict a poetic scene about the fragility of Holy Wood dreams.



Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Transitions (Demon Slayer #13) 2Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Transitions
Series: Demon Slayer #13
Author: Koyoharu Gotouge
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 190
Words: 9K

I realized that while I really like Tanjiro and his two friends, I simply don’t care for any other of the side characters. And this volume is chockful of other characters.

I definitely struggled to get through this. I sure hope volume 14 works better for me.

Bookstooge out...

★★☆☆☆


From Wikipedia

"In the Way"

"Thank You, Tokito"

"Won't Die"

"Sneaking Around"

"Pretentious Artist"

"Transitions"

"Bright Red Blade"

"Wanted: Respect"

"To Be a Hashira"

Hantengu and Gyokko attack the Swordsman Village and Tanjiro fights them, with help from Muichirō Tokitō, the Mist Hashira, Mitsuri Kanroji, the Love Hashira and Genya Shinazugawa, the younger brother of Sanemi, the Wind Hashira, who is eager to be acknowledged by his older brother.


Monday, March 24, 2025

Gloom - MTG 4E

 


Ahhh, good old specific enemy colored cards. It gave each color much more character and separated them from each other. Not subtly, but with sledgehammers. Magic was raw and untamed then. I miss those days.

Star’s End (Starfishers #3) 2.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Star’s End
Series: Starfishers #3
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 247
Words: 75K



It is a good thing this was the final book in this trilogy. It was empty. Every character was a morass of neuroses and hangups and was so internally focused that they couldn’t and wouldn’t care about anyone else, no matter who they were. That is a revolting mindset to be in.

I have determined that I really don’t like Cook’s science fiction. As such, I’m going to stop exploring his stuff that I haven’t read (not really much by this time to be honest) and concentrate on re-reading his Black Company books, which I really enjoyed the first time around. When the best thing you can say about a book or even a trilogy is that it makes you want to re-read something else by the author, well, that’s just pathetic. That’s probably a good way to end this review. Pathetic...

★★✬☆☆


From the Publisher

At the edge of the galaxy lies the fortress known as Stars’ End, a mysterious planet bristling with deadly automated weapons systems, programmed to slaughter anyone fool enough to come within range. But who built this strange planet of death, placing it within view of the Milky Way’s great lens… and tantalizingly close to the hydrogen-filled feeding grounds of the interstellar dragons known as Starfish and the priceless ambergris they create?
Should the harvestships of the High Seiners, known as Starfishers, gain control of that arsenal, they need never fear the Confederation’s navy nor the armies of the human-like Sangaree again. But intelligent life everywhere now needs the might of Stars’ End—and the expertise of agents Mouse Storm and Moyshe benRabi. For in the midst of the Sangaree wars, a far more sinister enemy approaches, coming from the depths of the galaxy, in hordes larger than a solar system.


Sunday, March 23, 2025

Book Recommendations VII (The Final Edition)

 

Please read the Intro Post if you haven’t already. It explains pretty much everything (except how to use your microwave. Nobody can explain that!) Given how many responses I got from the Get-Go, my plans to collect responses over several months fell by the wayside. I was able to start right away. That brings us to this point, the end.

This has been a VERY fun series for me to do. Serious to silly, I've enjoyed the interactions with you all. The biggest problem is that it was TOO successful. My Calibre TBR now stands at over 270 and I've got over 100 on my ereader, which if you do the math, adds up to almost 400 books. That's almost 3 years worth of books. So I am going to stop these posts before I get up to 500. There's no need for that.

Without further ado, here are the final recommendations and my reactions to them!


Recommendations & Responses


Firewater suggested A Simple Plan by Scott Smith. After glancing at the last sentence of the wiki entry, which was depressing as all get out, I'm going with a "No" on this one.

Joelendil recommended Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett. One of those 1920's hardboiled detective novels. You can tell it is grim and gritty by the guy's mouth on the cover. Going to go with a big fat "No" on this one too.

Brian recommended Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Sadly, Brian faded from view before I got this post up, so I'm going to go with another "no" here.

Swords&Spectres recommended The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman. He had reviewed one or two of them and they sounded very interesting. I'm going with "yes" on this.

Fraggle suggested High Vaultage by Chris and Jen Sugden. I read the synopsis and a review by another blogger and decided to go for "yes" on this as well. You can see why my tbr is growing with these posts!

My cousin Darren suggested The Deeds of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon. I've read one other book by Moon and it was the typical woman writer blathering on about feelings and ignoring a good story that was passing the reader by. So I'm not going to tempt fate and subject myself to that again. No.

Nic suggested Wives and Daughters, an unfinished novel by Elizabeth Gaskell. I'd actually read it back in '13, based on the idea that Gaskell was similar to Austen. Not. Even. Close. I'll never try another Gaskell book again.

Chartreuse Flag Hall of Shame

Lashaan suggested Count Zero by William Gibson, a sequel to The Book That Shall Not Be Named. This gets him a Chartreuse Flag without even trying. That book was the worst book ever and left me in a reading funk for over a month, a MONTH! So I'd rather cut off my head then read a sequel to it.


Wrap Up

This series of 7 posts have been a lot of fun, I must admit. Thank you all who have participated. I'd like to also give a big shout-out to Nic for getting the ball rolling last year. I never would have thought of doing something like this on my own and I'm glad she pointed out the idea.

The only downside is now I have to be "creative" again and think of a new series of posts to write about once a month. Anyone have any ideas?

Monster Hunter Files (MHI #7) 4Stars

  This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards...