Decisions, Decisions

Apr. 22nd, 2025 10:38 pm
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[personal profile] billroper
I had a choice of going to tomorrow night's Cubs vs. Dodgers game or the one played tonight. I decided to go tomorrow, because I like watching our Tuesday night shows, including "Will Trent" and "The Rookie", both of which were a lot of fun.

Then I turned off the delayed replay of those shows and landed back on the Marquee Channel to discover that the Cubs had mounted a comeback win, 11-10 in 10 innings.

Maybe I should have gone to the baseball game tonight.

But the shows *were* good...

Foxfire, Esq. by Noa (October)

Apr. 22nd, 2025 09:08 am
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


Retired superhero turned lawyer, Naomi "Foxfire" Ziegler pursues a wrongful death case involving a fire, a young superhero and a host of shifty housing corporations.

Foxfire, Esq. by Noa (October)

Uplift

Apr. 21st, 2025 10:19 pm
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[personal profile] billroper
My knees have been bothering me lately. This is not a surprise, as it is something that happens when my current pair of shoes is wearing out. The problem is that the shoe that I want to purchase has been stubbornly out of stock *and* I have been annoyingly busy. Busy enough, in fact, that I had not gone to the closet, pulled out the brand-new pair of shoes of a different style, and done the setup to get them ready to wear.

Thus does pain make you stupid.

Saturday night, I finally took the five minutes to get the shoes down and set them up. I have worn them Sunday and today and my knees are *much* happier.

Today, I ordered a new pair of shoes of yet another style that are, at least, in stock. We'll see how they do.

Bundle of Holding: Coyote & Crow

Apr. 21st, 2025 02:16 pm
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


This all-new Coyote & Crow Bundle presents Coyote & Crow, the alternate-history RPG set in the Free Lands of an uncolonized North America.

Bundle of Holding: Coyote & Crow

Clarke Award Finalists 1994

Apr. 21st, 2025 09:10 am
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll
1994: At least four MPs die from unrelated causes, Tony Blair uses his new position as leader of the Labour Party to make bold economic statements unbounded by reality, and in a bold rebuke of a half million years of effort to isolate Britain from the continent, the Chunnel opens.


Poll #33014 Clarke Award Finalists 1994
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 60


Which 1994 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Vurt by Jeff Noon
10 (16.7%)

A Million Open Doors by John Barnes
17 (28.3%)

Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
29 (48.3%)

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
49 (81.7%)

The Broken God by David Zindell
6 (10.0%)

The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick
29 (48.3%)



Bold for have read, italic for intend to read,, underline for never heard of it.

Which 1994 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Vurt by Jeff Noon
A Million Open Doors by John Barnes
Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
The Broken God by David Zindell
The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick

Paperworking

Apr. 20th, 2025 10:35 pm
billroper: (Default)
[personal profile] billroper
We had a lovely and relatively relaxed Easter today.

I helped Gretchen get the rib roast in the oven and then ran upstairs where I sorted through several items of paperwork that have been lingering for too long. In, around, and after this, I watched the Cardinals lose to the Mets and the Cubs lose to the Diamondbacks. I also noted that the Reds beat the Orioles by a final score of 24-2. It was sad that the Orioles only managed a safety.

Anyway, it will be back to work tomorrow.

If Easter is your holiday, I hope that you had a good one!

Git 'Er Done

Apr. 19th, 2025 09:03 pm
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[personal profile] billroper
I have *way* too many things that I am behind on here at home (I have things that I am behind on at work too, but I can mostly ignore those for the weekend) and I would like to finish some of them. Most of these things are sadly resistant to being finished.

I am nearly done with today's five loads of laundry (with a bit of help from K). This is good.

When I got home from lunch, Gretchen was out with Julie which meant that I had access to the entire garage. This meant that I could get out the big ladder, take it to the back corner of the garage, and put the access hatch to the attic that had blown out on a windy day back in place, which seemed a good idea given the presence of a raccoon in the attic.

Unfortunately, the path to that corner of the garage is rather akin to a minefield, the area underneath the access hatch was full of stuff, and the chances of succeeding in doing this were very low. So I didn't try.

There are, however, a great many things that need to be done before I can park my car in the garage again, which is something I would really like to do. Unfortunately, one of the items was something that Gretchen had informed me was all *my* problem.

See, a couple of years ago when we thought we were going to do the repairs on the fence ourselves (with help from Sam), I bought the necessary lumber and piled it along the disaster area side of the garage. Then we ended up hiring someone to do the fence repairs, which means all of the lumber was still in the garage and needs to be moved before it is possible to think about parking on that side of the garage. This is *my* problem.

I figured out how many of the pickets I could stash in the picket storage on Gretchen's side of the garage and shoved them in there. Then there was the problem of the 2x4s. There were a lot of those too. And there was a gap between two shelf units on Gretchen's side of the garage that was just about the size of a 2x4. I moved some empty boxes around to clear the space above the gap (because the 2x4s are long) and slid all of the 2x4s into the gap. I will want to stick something in front of the timbers so that an earthquake or something doesn't decide to drop them onto a parked car, but all of our good bungee cords departed when the fence was repaired...

I then realized that the remaining pickets could be stored behind the hanging bracket for snow shovels and rakes. I had to remove one snow shovel and the snowblower to make this work, but it worked and I was able to shove everything back into position.

This leaves the two 4x4 posts that need to be stored somewhere. In fact, I know where they need to be stored, but it is at the back corner of the garage on the opposite side of the minefield, so that will have to wait. But the garage is a little bit closer to clean (very little, Ensign) which I am going to take as progress.

In other news, the raccoon has not yet taken the bait in the trap -- or perhaps the raccoon is smarter than the guy who set the trap and has acquired the bait without being trapped.

I have a ton of things that I need to do on the computer tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


Just four works new to me this week: two fantasy novels, two tabletop roleplaying game supplements. One novel is part of a series. Again, not seeing nearly as many series works as I'd expect.

Books Received, April 12 — April 18


Poll #32997 Books Received, April 12 — April 18
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 36


Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (October 2025)
17 (47.2%)

Blood for the Undying Throne by Sung-Il Kim (October 2025)
10 (27.8%)

Keepers of the Elven Rings by Gabriele Quaglia & Francesco Nepitello (April 2025)
4 (11.1%)

Realms of the Three Rings by Gabriele Quaglia & Francesco Nepitello (April 2025)
3 (8.3%)

Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

Cats!
27 (75.0%)

Varmints

Apr. 18th, 2025 09:44 pm
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[personal profile] billroper
It looks like a raccoon has broken into our attic. We have called the appropriate pest control specialists who are setting a trap so the raccoon can be taken far away. I am hoping that there is only one, he can be removed, and the necessary repairs made.

*sigh*
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


Bata's unique abilities make her powerful, valuable, but as she is only ten, not in any way autonomous. The adults around her are keen to take advantage.

Where the Dead Brides Gather by Nuzo Onoh

Generally Crazy

Apr. 17th, 2025 10:31 pm
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[personal profile] billroper
It was the sort of day where I took Gretchen out to Chili's for lunch and then ate the appetizer platter special *as* my lunch.

I have to say that I have missed fried mozzarella...
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[personal profile] brithistorian
A. and I finished Person of Interest tonight.



Now that I've finished it, I can dive into the wiki and the fanfic without worrying about getting spoiled. I'll probably even write some fanfic of my own — based on the parts of the show I enjoyed most and the style of fanfic I tend to write, expect my fanfic to be "season 3 forever."

At any rate, I really enjoyed the series, I simultaneously wish there had been more of it and am glad that it didn't go on so far that it wore out its welcome, and I recommend it to those of you who haven't seen it!

For Book Club

Apr. 17th, 2025 10:20 pm
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll
Aside from The Cold Solution, which stories could be said to be replies to The Cold Equations?
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Can a handful of intelligence agents working for the last remnant of the Holy Human Empire defeat a whole solar system of doctrinaire libertarians? Yes, obviously. But can they do it before the true enemy arrives?

The End of the Empire by Alexis A. Gilliland

Behinder

Apr. 16th, 2025 10:29 pm
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[personal profile] billroper
I am trying to catch up on things and failing. But I have hopes for the weekend!
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


Revived Sigil Stone OSR Bundle with two tabletop fantasy roleplaying games from Sigil Stone Publishing – Five Torches Deep and Vagabonds of Dyfed.

Bundle of Holding: Sigil Stone OSR (from 2022)

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Chaz Boston Baden

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