Let's Play Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - B6M4 - Fewer Bothans Died

I mean, less than would have if Rogue Squadron hadn't sortied to ensure that at least some of them got away, right?

Bullet Journaling - The Most Valuable Tool In My Productivity Arsenal

I think it’s fair to say that discovering the Bullet Journal method pretty well revolutionized my productivity this year. Oh, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing, of course, but I’ve definitely seen a major increase in both personal and professional output this year with the Bullet Journal being the only major change to my lifestyle.

First book on the left, current book on the right.

Let's Play Ash of Gods: Redemption - Chapter 6c - The Wandering Menhir

Lo Pheng and the Warrior Wenches (and friends) make their way to the Wandering Menhir. Except, there's no menhir in sight. What does a Warrior of Peace have to do to get a magical teleport home, anyway?

Quick Show Review - New Magnum P.I.

How do you remake a piece of classic '80s TV like Magnum P.I.? If you're CBS, and have successfully revived Hawaii 5-0 and Macgyver in the past couple of years, the answer is "Just move the timeline up 30 years." So Magnum and his friends are all Iraq/Afghanistan vets rather than Vietnam.

That's pretty much the biggest change. Well, and Higgins is a woman now, and Magnum doesn't have a mustache or rock a Hawaiian shirt (at least not in the opening episode anyway). Rick is still the well connected, club running problem solver, and TC still runs helicopter tours in a Bell 500.

 After one episode, at least, it feels pretty good. The most jarring point isn't even new Higgins, it's trying to get used to Thomas Magnum not being Tom Selleck. I think this is going to stay on my watch list.

Monday Vlogging - Keep On Keeping On

I seem to be struggling a bit with motivation this week. Maybe some of it's the come down from hitting a big goal, but a lot of it is just looking at other areas of my life and being frustrated with how slow progress is being made.



Gotta keep on keeping on, I guess. Things don't get better if you just sit on your butt and whine about it.

Let's Play Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - B6M3 - This is Our House!

It's time to get our home back! Alliance High Command has decided to recapture the Azzameen home station, rather than simply launching a bomber strike to blow it up. Hooray!



This mission is really pretty straight forward. Just kill whatever enemy fighters are threatening you, and make sure the enemy Marauder Corvette gets neutralized. Fortunately, the B-Wing is the right tool for the job here.

Perseverance and Direction

I’ve been thinking a bit lately about perseverance and direction. Without getting into too many details, it’s fair to say that it feels like we (meaning my family unit) have been treading water financially for what feels like quite a while. Sometimes we slip back a bit, sometimes we move forward a bit, but it seems like the forward progress keeps getting called back, and it takes maximum effort just to get back from the slips. It’s frustrating, and since revenue generation is largely my responsibility, I really have no one I can be upset with save for the guy in the mirror.

It’s not like I don’t have a plan. Work hard, keep on the career track, and work harder to spin up the writer and streamer side businesses. They’re all making progress, but it’s so very slow. Maybe I should ditch some part of the plan and chase some other way.

I wasn't even in the top 50% of my age group, total runners, or my gender, but I wasn't last either. And for a first race, all
I wanted to do was finish.

Oh, right. That took work too. A lot of hot Sunday long runs where I didn’t want to go out, much less drag through the required distance. Boring hours on the treadmill when the weather just wouldn’t cooperate at all. Full marathons are going to be more of the same. That’s what this financial thing is, really. A full marathon. Maybe even an ultra-marathon. It’s not going to be complete in a day, or a month, or a year. It’s just a regular slog of doing the things I know I need to do to get to the well defined goals that are worth the struggle.

Thunderbird no. 6 ejection at Mt. Home airshow in 2003 [Photo by SSgt Bennie J. Davis III - Still Photographer, USAF]

On the other hand, sometimes there are reasons to bail out. There’s no reason to follow a crash into the ground if you don’t have to. Live to fly (or run, or work) another day beats riding a doomed effort down to a fireball. Are my efforts doomed to inevitable failure? I don’t believe so. Systems are still reading green, I’ve got the necessary altitude, and progress is happening. That’s not the time to pull the black and yellow handles.

Side note: the incident report that led to the above picture is well worth reading. The details that led to this very expensive incident form a multi-link accident chain that ultimately cost Captain Chris Stricklin his flying career, and the Air Force a $20 million jet. He ejected less than a second before the aircraft hit the ground, and after putting it into a slight turn to avoid endangering spectators at the airshow.

All that to say that punching out is something of a last resort. Better than the alternative, but still something that can have lasting repercussions. Best to try and break those accident chains, be they in aviation, motorcycling, or careers before they lead to incidents like this.

Let's Play Ash of Gods: Redemption - Friga At Last - Chapter 6b

After numerous trials and tribulations, Thorn and his party finally make it Friga. But where is Mact? Why is the fortress being abandoned? Who is in charge?

Some of these questions might even be answered tonight.

Around the Web - Ash of Gods: Redemption Review

Obviously the videos are still trickling out on YouTube at a one-per-week pace, but in reality, I have finally finished playing through Ash of Gods: Redemption. 

Two of the possible characters who can join your party.

 Truth be told, this review absolutely fell victim to the problem of me signing up for more work than I could handle over the summer. Trying to jam through multiple games, manage four days a week of kids in sports, train for a half marathon, and still work my normal job turned out to be a bit much. Lesson learned. I regret that some content got stuck in the process, as it makes me look like I'm a rank amateur, but there's nothing I can really do about that, save learn from my mistakes and not repeat them.

Monday Vlogging - Half-Marathon Completed! Now What?

Well, that's one major goal for 2018 done. Now to take stock, and plot how I'm going to do better in 2019. I know, it's time to run some full marathons!

Let's Play Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - B6M2 - Slight Navigational Error

It's time to figure out where those party-crashing mercenary scum from the last mission came from. To do that, it's time to take the Otana, do some sneaky slicer stuff, then follow the trail right to the mercenaries' base!


Things don't exactly go according to the plan. First off, the first set of coordinates turn out to be fakes, leading us right into a trap. Just getting away turns into an adventure. Then there's more time in a turret, playing the sitting duck role. Not my favorite way to play.

Well, at the end, at least we found the merc base. About that...

Reno Dreaming

This week, the Valley of Speed is once again filled with the sound of thundering V-12s, and massive radial engines. This week, turbo- and super-charged Sport Class racers flirt with 400mph over the desert floor. Jet Class L-29s will mix it up at 500mph, T-6s will thunder wing-tip to wingtip, and airshow performers will wow everyone between races.

Every year I miss being there. Someday I'm going back. But for now, maybe I should dig into the picture vault. Let's see, in 1994 I had a little 110 camera. Not the greatest photos, but they're mine.

The pit area was a more laid back place in the '90s. Lefty Gardner's P-38 White Lightnin is visible in the right side of the photo.

An EA-6B Prowler on static display is always a treat.

The F-4G Wild Weasels weren't entirely retired from the Air Force's inventory in 1994, but its day was definitely coming to a close. There weren't too many years left before four-ship flybys like this were extinct.

Let's Play Ash of Gods: Redemption - Ch. 6a - How About Some Variety?

It seems like every time Hopper finds himself alone for a few minutes, he's attacked by some group or another. How about some variety, maybe? Nope, the uncaring universe responds, just more bloodshed for you.

Seventeen Years...

Todd Beamer
Alona Avraham
Anna Williams Allison
Yeneneh Betru
Lt. Col. Canfield D. Boone
Daphne Pouletsos

For these people, and over 3,000 others, September 11th, 2001 started as just a normal day. A travel day for some, a work day for others, but nothing out of the ordinary.  None of them likely expected that this would be their last day on earth.

Never, ever, forget.

Wikipedia - Creative Commons License

Monday Vlogging - Football!!! Vlog 2018-36

Football is back! Woohoo!

Let's Play Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - B6M1 - Fey'la Troubles

I still don't like Borsk Fey'lya, for a whole myriad of Legends Extended Universe reasons. That said, we have to keep him save for ... um ... look, we just DO, okay? He's got a bunch of Bothans he still has to order to their deaths so that he can ride their corpses to political power for the next fifty years.



On second thought, maybe we could just let the Imperials have him, admit that blowing up the 2nd Death Star was a huge mistake, and let the Empire win this round?

F-22 Witchcraft (Offutt 2018)

One more Offutt post, because A. Airplanes are Cool, and B. My muse is taking a nap. Also, The Queen turned 5 this week, and her birthday celebration made a long Labor Day weekend even longer. Not in a bad way, mind you, but still, not much writing time was had.

My photo.

So, F-22 Raptors. Offutt was the first time I've witnessed the F-22 Demo in person, and it is something to behold. Videos don't do it justice, though they're certainly worth watching.

Like this one:
Pure rip the air apart and make physics cry. We never should have shut the production line down when we did.

Let's Play Ash of Gods: Redemption - Someone's Going to Get #MeToo'd At This Rate! - Chapter 5e

Traveling with his group of "Warrior Wenches", Lo Pheng has added a couple of men to the group as well. They... may want to watch their mouths. And other parts too.



And it looks like that's the end of Chapter 5!

Around The Web - Burnin' Down The Backlog With Forza Horizon!

I've really fallen massively behind on actually finishing games this year. It's been a combination of factors, not one specific thing that I can point to, but when I do manage to finish a game, it's definitely cause for a Backlog Burndown column!

Screenshot via MobyGames.com

Over on Marooners' Rock, we have my latest entry, as I finally finished Forza Horizon. Hey, the fourth game in the series is only coming out next month, right? And since I finished Forza Horizon 2 already, I'm technically only one behind right now...

Monday Vlogging - Long Weekend

Not that much to say here. It's a long weekend, the last big weekend of summer, and I was out enjoying it.