| Dragoncon and Hurricane Idalia | Main Page, Dragoncon, Plants | [06-Sep-2023]
Idalia threatened to wreck all the plans for dragoncon. Power went out abt 4am and didnt come back on till 2am the next morning. Watch the hurricane out the window some gusts and drizzling rain but nothing bad. A few small limbs down.
Left Wed night instead of Thursday since I still didnt have power. Staid in the worst hotel ever. Roaches all over the bathroom in the middle of the night, so bad we didnt even take showers and waited till we got the hyatt room.
Went to see Jesses mom Edi for lunch in Highlands after dropping Craig off at the Hyatt so added an extra 5 hours of driving to the trip.
2 games and several panels. Got Cece to play FATE since Clayton and Leslie didnt come and had tickets already. Crowds were not bad only walked down the stairs once.
Tuesday had to rent a u-haul trailer and tow Kris car to jax. His house got wiped out and he needed the car towed to get it fixed by his nephew. That took all day so another 6 hours of driving (55 with the trailer).
Grapes have been late and fish fryer for canning not working right. Havent even checked to see how many are left after the hurricane. Got Craigs fryer so if there are any left can process them. |
| Perseids fail again | Astronomy | [13-Aug-2023]
On Thursday clear sky clock said it would be clear all night. Moon want in the way. Stayed up to nights prepping camera. Got kids to go camping. So it rains abt 8pm. Then is cloudy. There was a hole till about am and we say 7 whole meteors before it clouded over completely and stayed that way till about 9am. |
| Arabella The Traitor of Mars | Books | [13-Aug-2023]
Arabella The Traitor of Mars by David D Levine.
Alternate Fantasy: 334 pages.
Volume 3 in the series The Adventures of Arabella Ashby.
Araballa stops a British invasion of Mars. Rating: 5 (out of 8) |
| Conrads Last Campaign | Books | [12-Aug-2023]
by Leo Frankowski
Alternate History: 270 pages
Better than the previous one. The Poles go and sack Samarkand then Conrad retires because no one needs him any more. Rating: 4 (out of 8) |
| Starlink Sat pass | Astronomy | [09-Aug-2023]
Was setting up to test the new camera for this weekend. Went out front to get bug spray and looked up to see a starlink sat pass. Amazing. Ran through the house to grab the camera and Take photos on whatever setting its had. Managed to get two. Spent about an hour outside after that. saw 3 meteors and took some photos of the Lyra area that came out pretty well despite not having a working clock drive. Bulb, F3.5 1600iso and 30 seconds is pretty good.
Had to warm up the lens because it was getting dew on it. Deleted a bunch but kept some. Need to read the manual and figure out how to focus. All the way right seems best.
Photos. |
| Lord Conrads Crusade | Books | [28-Jul-2023]
Lord Conrads Crusade by Leo Frankowski.
Alternate History: 229 pages.
Volume 7 in the series Adventures of Conrad Stargard.
I remember the series being misogynist an racist but this one was way beyond that. I largely blame the other author (Rodger Olsen). The real straw was the line where Conrad said the women of the war losers probably enjoyed the rape that followed. Rating: 3 (out of 8) |
| Powers And Thrones | Books | [27-Jul-2023]
by Dan Jones
History: 636 pages
Somewhat disappoint after his previous books. It tries to cover the entire middle ages and its just too much. This might make a fine high school general history text but its not much good for anything else. Rating: 4 (out of 8) |
| The Golden Enclaves | Books | [16-Jul-2023]
The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik.
Alternate Fantasy: 407 pages.
Volume 2 in the series The Scholomance.
After graduation we discover that the enclaves are built on a lie and are the cause of the problem of the worst monsters. Rating: 6 (out of 8) |
| The Last Graduate | Books | [15-Jul-2023]
The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik.
Alternate Fantasy: 388 pages.
Volume 2 in the series The Scholomance.
In order to graduate you have to run the gauntlet of monsters inhabiting the graduation room, that is unless someone is over powered and killed them already. Rating: 6 (out of 8) |
| The Deadly Education | Books | [14-Jul-2023]
The Deadly Education by Naomi Novik.
Alternate Fantasy: 313 pages.
Volume 1 in the series The Scholomance.
Naomi Novik does anther great series. Magic exists and there is a school with no adults that kids are sent to to protect them from the monsters outside, but even inside its very dangerous. Rating: 7 (out of 8) |
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