I will not die, but live, and proclaim what the Lord has done...

The Children of Hurin

2010-01-05T00:03:58Z

I finished J.R.R. Tolkien's The Children of Hurin. Apparently, it was one of the earlier stories that Tolkien wrote (before The Lord of The Rings) and it appeared first in The Silmarillion. However, Christopher Tolkien re-released it last year as a stand-alone tale with a good map and Dramatis Personae, and without the endless footnote. It is not very readable and quite enjoyable. Like most of the First Age stories, it is a tragedy: high-born characters are brought to ruin by a fatal flaw (and the will of Morgoth, of course). There are elves and orcs, men good and evil, massive battles and lonely quests, and a wonderfully wicked Dragon. If you love Tolkien, but The Silmarillion was too dry for you, pick this one up.

It makes me want to play The Battle for Middle Earth II and paint High Elves for Armies of Arcana...

December 28, 1979

2009-12-28T21:03:59Z

So, now I'm 30 years old. I had a great party last night that included friends and family, pizza and beer, boardgames and Halo - what more could I ask for?

Talking to my brother, I realized two things about being 30:

1: Having spent a few years in the military, I am behind in the career curve - all the other guys at Summit that are 30 make more and have gone further in the company, having been there longer;

2: I really thought I 'd be a father by 30.

The younger guys at work were giving me crap over it. When I said that 30 is the new 20, they said that's just what people say when they hit 30 to make themselves feel better. Seriously though, the Romans thought a man was in his prime when hit 30. By then, he was probably a husband and father, a veteran warrior and earning plenty of income.

Two out of four ain't bad.

Relativity

2009-12-26T16:24:31Z

I just finished Albert Einstein's Relativity. Published in 1920 and about one hundred pages long, it is both accessible and mind-blowing. The beginning is easy understand, the middle gets vary arcane, but stays attached to practicality by means of decent analogies and the end just blows you away.

Gravity bends light. Things get smaller and time gets longer the faster they go. The universe is both finite and unbounded. Space is spherical.

I really enjoyed reading this book and it has been a goal of mine for some time now.

Maranatha

2009-12-25T17:18:06Z

Merry Christmas!

In studying the Bible yesterday, having discussed this with my wife and dad, I researched all of the passages in the New Testament that spoke of Jesus' Second Coming. Most dramatic is, of course, Revelation 19 - The Rider on the White Horse. Then, in Revelation 22, Jesus says many times "I am coming soon."

I love the idea of Advent (instead of just Christmas) because we do not simply celebrate Jesus as an infant in a barn. Holistically, we look back on his first coming and give thanks that he lived, died and rose for our sins. Then, we look forward to his Second Coming, in which his Triumph will be complete: Advent.

As such, I really meditate on two Christmas songs that are not really Christmas songs, but rather, Advent songs: O Come O Come Emmanuel, and Joy to the World (think about that second one - no mention of the birth of Jesus, it is about Jesus' triumphant return to Earth).

So, enjoy the holy day, remember why Jesus came in the first place, and don't forget that he is coming again...

soon...

MARANATHA!

Blue-Yogging

2009-12-22T12:26:20Z

Yesterday was sort of a day of firsts. I used a bluetooth wireless earpiece to talk on the phone to my sister while I was driving home from work. I then exercised for the first time in 6 months. Hopefully, both trends will continue.

Rome at War: Fading Legions

2009-12-21T04:51:10Z

So, my buddy Daniel and I played one of our favorite wargames - Rome at War: Fading Legions. Published by Avalanche Press, it is a board game recreating 10 battles fought between Rome and her enemies during her declining years. It has fold-out maps divided into topographical areas of terrain, while units and commanders are represented by illustrated cardboard pieces. It uses six-sided dice.

We played scenario 10: The Battle of Adrianople, 378 A.D. (one of the three or four dates used for the end of the Roman Empire). Daniel took Emperor Valens and his Eastern Roman Legions, while I played the Visigoths under Fritigern and the Ostrogoths under Aletheus.

The Visigoths are caught with their wagon train full of women, children and goods by Valens. They literally circle their wagons on top of a hill and send word for help to their allies, the Ostrogoths. The Romans' primary goal is to destroy as many wagons as possible, and to inflict military casualties. The Goths have to protect the wagons and kill Romans.

Knowing how the Roman army was flanked and swept away by arriving Ostrogoths while attacking the wagons, Daniel kept his army away from the hill and fought a more defensive fight, hoping to kill all the Goths, and then go destroy their women and children. So, I advanced the Visigoths slowly down their hill, and waited for the Ostrogoths, who showed up on turn 3 and laid into the Roman right flank. After some initial success with charging heavy cavalry and hit-and-run attacks with horse archers on both flanks, I pressed the attack with Visigoth heavy infantry in the center. Daniel never really took control of the game, always reacting to my moves. I would smash a hole in his line, which he would then plug with yet another legion from reserve (he had a LOT of legions). Finally, I broke his army in half and defeated his left flank in detail, kept his right flank busy with cavalry and swung my heavy infantry line to down to finish him off. Emperor Valens was everywhere - encouraging, restoring order, dressing the lines, while my hothead Ostrogoth cavalry commander Saphrax slashed left and right through the Roman infantry. Finally, after losing the Visigoth king Fritigern, his son Farnobius rallied the remaining Goths, charged the steadfast Romans and left Valens with a single understrength legion. Seeing his army slaughtered almost to the last man, the Emperor fled the field. The Goths had won the day, protected their people and would, in just a hundred years, come to rule Italy from Rome herself.

Daniel (Roman Emperor Valens) - 96 victory points
Justin (Goth kings Fritigern and Aletheus) - 115 victory points

The Romans have great infantry, but have vulnerable flanks, and their cavalry is heavily outnumbered by the Goth cavalry. However, the Goth player can only use one of the two Goth armies each turn (representing lack of centralized command and control). So, I would switch back and forth between Goth armies trying to press any gains I had made with fast cavalry while Daniel was simply trying to force an infantry battle. His legions would charge, my cavalry would retreat, rally and attack an exposed flank.

Although it took the better part of 4 hours to set up and play (we needed a lot of rule-book interrups, having not played for many months), we both had a great time. I am very impressed with Avalanche Press' command and control and combat systems for their historical games.

The Dawn of a New Era

2009-12-16T01:29:11Z

I want to write science fiction from a Christian point of view. I've read a sci-fi allegory titled Arena which was pretty good, but very allegorical. C.S. Lewis did a great job, in my humble opinion, of writing a science fiction tale within the context of the worship of Jesus Christ and I love every page of his Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength). Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo is an excellent sci-fi novel, I felt, in which characters have to deal with their Christian faith in the context of an otherwise normal story in space. Then, of course, there are the Warhammer 40,00 novels. While more space opera than science fiction and most assuredly not Christian, they are written by men who are obviously familiar with Christianity and write plenty of Christian themes into their simple epic-action-in-a-war-torn-future template.

Therefore, having read the above along with plenty of sci-fi from the point of view that says "There is no God and Science with lead the way to a better future", I wish to start writing sci-fi from the point of view that says "There is a God, He cares about people, we can know Him personally and history has a definite end - the return of Jesus Christ." How do I go about doing that?

An excellent friend and fellow Christian and science fiction aficionado has suggested that I first outline a story I would like to tell, and then write out a Theology that is consistent with our current understanding of God and the possibilities of men traveling and living between the stars. For example, if God created other intelligent races besides Men, do they have Original Sin? Did they Fall? Were they given the Law? Did Jesus have to live a perfect life as a member of their Race, die for their Sins, rise from another Grave and Ascend into Heaven redeeming them as well? What about a race that never fell, or is still under the Law, or (wildly) will not be redeemed?

Other questions of a possible Other Bible, the workings of the Holy Spirit amongst another race and the role of a possibly radically different morality must also be addressed.
More than anything, though, I want to tell stories in the future, amongst the stars, in which Men interact with each other and other intelligent beings, all the while hurtling toward the end of time.

Soup!

2008-10-02T01:45:45Z

So, work has been going well. We are super busy and making tons of money as a company. Go figure, just as the economy is collapsing in ruins, my company is selling crap hand over fist. I guess it goes to show that the electrical distribution industry is mostly recession-proof - sure, fewer houses are being built, but existing ones are being renovated and every government building in town still needs light bulbs, no matter what's happening in the stock market. We had a record-setting month for September. My service center made more money than any other center ever. That means we'll all be getting a huge profit-sharing check in October. I tell you what - nothing motivates me more toward hard work than seeing my work pay off in my pocket. September was hard - early mornings, late nights, lunch in the truck, salesmen and customers alike pulling me a dozen ways - but it all becomes cash in my bank account. I like my job and my company.

Kathryn and I have been talking about buying a house for some time now. We, of course, realize that that time has just moved off a few (or several) months. That's fine. We are almost out of debt. Besides, my favorite historian, Victor Davis Hanson, wrote a great piece that was published in the Abq Journal on 28 September, in the New Mexico section of the Sunday paper. I want every one I know to read it. It's a very good take on the current economic situation.

Speaking of, it is my personal opinion that this whole mess is due to a culture of debt spending. Now, there is nothing wrong with a mortgage, or a car loan, or school loans ...

AS LONG AS YOU CAN AFFORD IT!!!

Too many people buy too much stuff that they don't need on credit and it eventually all comes crashing down. Want a house? Buy a house that you can afford to 1) make a monthly payment on (emphasis on MONTHLY); 2) pay for utilities on; 3) pay for proper upkeep for; 4) pay the property taxes on. Owning a home is EXPENSIVE! Maybe, just maybe, (wait for it) not every American should own their own house. HERESY! you cry. BURN HIM! you shout! Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness! your children wail. Well, I don't know whether this person or that should own a home - but the market does. Apparently a whole lot of people bought way more house than they should have.

Along those some lines, buy a car! just not an F-250 extended cab 4x4 with lift kit and 32 inch armageddon tires.
Go to school and borrow for it! just have a plan to pay off that debt soon after you graduate or be happy being poor.
No one should buy so much crap that they have to choose between a car or house payment and food or medicine. Sadly, many people end up in just that situation. And, don't get me started on personal electronics. Seriously. You'd think kids these days have their heart rates regulated by their iPhones and blackberries. (great - now I sound like I'm 63 years old and never used a computer).

People just have it in their minds that they need all of this crap they see on TV - but they do not need it. Reckless debt spending on non-essentials, driven by both the greed of the lenders/producers as well as the consumer created the current economic crisis. If we are in a recession or slide into one, I say we deserve it. I mean, our own government is the biggest debt spender in the history of mankind. I guess we are just following the example set by our Bigger Brother.

I can think of another example to follow...

Relentless

2008-09-01T16:22:01Z

So, yesterday was one of the best Sundays in living memory. I am part of a men's group that meets early at my Church Sunday mornings, and myself and another leader really laid some stuff on the line for one of our guys. This week will see a breakthrough in his life. Worship was literally awe-some. One of the things I love about the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Churches is that one of our priorities is truthful, spiritual, unrestrained Worship of God through song and dance. Our worship leaders led us in a new song that God is using powerfully in my own heart - You Won't Relent by Misty Edwards from IHOP. Look it up. We then heard from about a dozen people aged 15-25 from our Church who spent 2 weeks in Thailand serving at orphanages and poor villages and sharing the Gospel. They reported many miraculous healings and conversions. A man from Kentucky who lives in China building and supporting orphanages, supporting the underground church in China and sharing the Gospel then spoke and lit a fire to share Jesus' love with those around us - and to pray for China. It was an amazing morning of worship and encouragement - exactly was Church should be.

Then, Kathryn and I had lunch with Jon, Nicole and David at Mannie's. It was good. The last time I ate at Mannie's was in ought-five and I hated it. All I remember was poor service, cold potatoes and burnt chicken. This time was much better, however. I ordered a basic eggs, bacon and pancakes meal which turned out to be great - especially he bacon. Because my wife doesn't like bacon, we don't keep in the house and I rarely eat it. But Mannie's served up 4 thick slices of perfectly cooked, dripping-with-grease side-of-swine that really made my afternoon. I also got to meet Father Paul of the local Greek Orthodox church, who happened to be in the restaurant. Kathryn knows him from doing funerals and introduced us. He seems very likable and even invited me to come tour his church and talk Byzantine history with him some time - sweet!

Following Mannie's we drove up the east side of the Sandia Mountains, pulled off near the top and just walked around for about an hour. Though short, just walking about in the cool mountain air, throwing my knife and talking with my wife and friends was incredibly refreshing. I do wish I could spend more time up in the mountains. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy living in the city with all its people and conveniences, but the mountains are where I can truly relax.

Kathryn and I then spent the evening together. We shared a light dinner and read some, followed by some gaming. We played two games of Battleline, each taking a win and as a tie-breaker played Aqua Romana. It was perhaps the best round of Aqua Romana ever. We played mostly clean and I ended up edging her out 39 to 38 with the entire board full of tiles. The rest of the evening was very pleasant, as well.

It was a great day.

Just maintain...

2008-08-30T17:29:07Z

So, I read a quote on a poster while delivering some material this week. I cannot remember who said it or the exact wording, but the spirit was this: it is easy to rally people to a cause and building something, but it is very, very difficult to motivate people to maintain said thing, once it is built/crisis has passed, etc. I was, of course, delivering stuff to UNM's maintenance folks. Still, it got me thinking, that the speaker is profoundly correct. Surmounting some great obstacle, be it a social problem,a war, an actual building, a nation, even a personal goal, is a lot easier than maintaining the good state of that thing for years to come. A man has many things to maintain in his life - his spirit, mind, body, his relationships (with God and his wife being the most important in my book) and community, his working skills, finances, property, and so on. How many people fail to maintain something important in their lives and suffer immensely because of it? For example, dating, courting and marrying my wife was very exciting. Maintaining my marriage, while is by no means boring, is less exciting and sometimes requires some real work (like sacrificing my wants and needs for her wants and needs on a Daily basis). I have a friend who has been married for over 10 years, but did a very bad job of maintaining his marriage and is now going through a miserable divorce. One's relationship with the Creator of the Universe is perhaps the most important thing possible to maintain. I remember will when I first trusted Jesus as a child, some high points in my faith growing up, the time I decided to follow Jesus as an adult, and certain moments of great intimacy, healing and insight from God since then. Those were extremely cool. The day-by-day process of walking with God and being transformed by His Word is less cool and sometimes quite difficult. But, if I want to please my Heavenly Father, and become more like Jesus the Chosen One ...

... I must maintain.

This land will be civilized!

2008-08-26T03:21:08Z

So, Kathryn and I watched The Proposition. We both agree: it is a great movie, but such a downer, as well. It includes what is probably my favorite type of antagonist: the character who desires Order above all else and will do whatever it takes to that end. Captain Morris Stanley is a great example of a man who wants to civilize his land, and is willing to hurt people to make it happen, yet he still has a moral code. His opposite is Arthur Burns, a chaotic force of a man. Captain Stanley reminds me of Inspector Uhl from The Illusionist, the King of Qin from Hero, and even Darth Vader. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe in that kind of leader in the real world, but that kind of antagonist in a story really draws me in, probably because I identify closest with that kind of villain.

The Force is Strong with this one...

2008-08-24T23:08:50Z

So, a friend from church and I went and saw Clone Wars. Despite it being obviously made for 8-year-olds, being full of silly (re: stupid in any other context) moments, having little in the way of plot or characterization, I enjoyed it. It was 90 minutes of Clone Wars action, half of which was nicely dedicated to Clones and Droids battling it out American Civil War style, with some Jedi thrown in for spice. I have always wondered why Clone commanders and Droid programmers would choose to fight in tightly-drawn battle lines? I guess the Droids have more of an excuse - they are not living, assumedly cheap to make, and used to draw attrition-driven victories. However, the Clones are not far behind, being mind-programmed CLONES, after all. Still, it takes something like 5 years and who knows how many credits to generate, train and equip a Clone Trooper - his life should not be thrown away too lightly. I would actually love to see some casualty figures from the Clone Wars in terms of Clones/Droids produced and lost. All wars are costly, but this one had to break the bank. Nor would loosing only Clones/Droids and the occasional staff person or Jedi/banking magnate really teach the civilized population of the Galaxy just how bad war really is. Anyway, for those who have not seen it, there is a wonderful battle in which one side actually uses artillery (the king of the modern battlefield) against the other side with proper results. ACW-style battle line get torn to pieces by artillery (as the French found in WWI), which is why modern military units are smaller and crawl or rush from cover to cover when advancing rather than advance down the avenue shoulder-to-shoulder at march pace a la Clone Wars. The Clone Wars are so big and dramatic that anything can happen in them, which is essentially why I saw the movie. I was not disappointed.

I played a nice, big game of Warhammer 40,000 yesterday. There were 4 of us so we played 2 on 2, 2000 points per side (1000 per player). I took my loyal Space Marines and fought alongside Tom with his Tau. We faced Brett with his traitor Chaos Space Marines and Micah with his Necrons. Brett brought great terrain that looked like the inside of a gigantic factory, complete with tanks of gas and a great network of multi-level catwalks and platforms. The mission was Annihilation (kill em all) and the deployment was Spearhead (opposite table quarters). Tom and I both had strong army lists (I took a Master with Command Squad in a Razorback, two Tactical Squads with special weapons in Rhinos, a squad with a Heavy Bolter, and a Dreadnought in a Drop Pod), and had a pretty good game plan - only the dice said, "No." Literally. My Dreadnought did not arrive until Turn 4, and one of my Tac squads spent most of the game beating on two Necron Destroyers that must have had blessed armor. Micah made so many saves that he admitted to sacrificing a small child that morning. Tom, with his normally lethal shooty army, could not roll above a 3 the whole game. Brett and Micah played a decent game, making no major tactical errors, and won 10 kill points to 4. Yuck. Still, it was fun. From now on, my Tactical Squads will not leave home without their Power Fists.

Annoying customers pay my wages.

2008-08-22T03:25:57Z

So, the last couple of weeks of work have been very difficult. I've been working 9-11 hour days with no breaks, driving an ancient, huge, cranky International with a 400-lb clutch. I come home absolutely EXHAUSTED every day, but I've been getting a ton of overtime. It's weird - August has, so far, been a record month for sales, but our warehouse staffing is at a record low. Fortunately, a new guy started yesterday, and another will start Monday, so that will help. And, we should be getting two brand-spanking new trucks in soon. I get all pissed sometimes when salesmen type a ton of tickets for me to pull, and I have to remind myself that I have a good job because the type tickets. Oh, well. I still like my job.

I play a half game of Warhammer 40,000 the other day. It was ok. I walked into the store at 7pm on a Wednesday night and another guy randomly showed up at the same time. His army looked great (heavily converted Blood Angels Space Marines), but he had no clue what he was doing game-wise. We called the game after only 3 turns because it was 10pm and the store was closing. It was kind of frustrating because I know the rules very well and he was basically just learning.

Kathryn and I have watched many hours of Olympics lately. The swimming is awesome. The top 20 or so swimmers in the world compete, and Michael Phelps just blows them all away. That 6'5" Jamaican sprinter is pretty cool, too. I really do like the Olympics, because, beneath all the commercialism and jockeying for global hegemony, the spirit of finding common human ground through friendly competition is still there. The Romans built an empire through a spirit of cooperation, but the competitive Greeks gave us the Olympics. I love it.

Kathryn got really slimed at work the other day, so to de-stress, we rented and watched Bella. It is a pretty good movie. I love the idea of the main character trying to find redemption by serving someone else.

See the Wolves!

2008-07-27T22:31:30Z

So, my sister is studying Wolf biology (specifically, whether it is more stressful for a wolf to be dominant, having to constantly defend its position, or submissive, being constantly dominated) at the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary in Candy Kitchen, NM (an hours south of Grants). This Wolf-camp accepts wolves and wolf-dogs from people who have learned through experience that wolves make bad pets. Kathryn and I drove out there (western NM is actually green and cool) and my sister took us on a tour.

They have most of the wolves in high-fenced enclosures in pairs (male-female) or larger family groups (the most I saw was four wolves). All of these wolves came from breeders or owners. Apparently, wolves make lousy pets and guard-animals for two reasons: 1) they are terrified of humans; 2) they don't bark. She pointed out one wolf that a drug dealer from L.A. kept as a guard dog, but it cowered from everyone and never sounded the alarm. Wolves don't bark.

She told us of a study in which a treat in a sealed, airtight container was placed under one of three bowls and a man pointed at the bowl under which the treat was hidden. Neither a wolf nor a monkey understood the gesture, but a domesticated dog did understand and went to the proper bowl. Point is, for 10,000 years, dogs have learned to communicate with humans in a way that wolves do not (and cannot) know. Wolves are wild things meant for the wild.

Interestingly, the Sunday Journal last weekend published an article in which a major study showed that the lack of large predators in the United States (particularly wolves and cougars) has allowed grazing animal herds (mainly deer and such) to grow so large that they are now damaging the environment though overgrazing. Unfortunately for the environment, humans have been told for the last several hundred years that wolves (and cougars, I suppose) are evil monsters that want to rape our women and eat our babies. Hence the lack of wolves, and the damage to the environment. Propaganda? Maybe. But, then, remember Little Red Riding Hood?

Sow, Reap, Persist

2008-07-25T23:58:10Z

So, Kathryn and I saw The Dark Knight. Simply put, we loved it. It is easily one of the top three superhero movies ever made. Heath Ledger as the Joker was amazing. He was a truly fearsome villain, mostly because he was an embodiment of Chaos. Quote - "I don't have plans. I just - do things." Very Scary. Batman was really good, especially making hard choices for the good of Gotham, whether Gotham wanted it (or even deserved it). Go see this movie.

Also, I hit a post office truck. I was bombing down Yale south of University, when an oncoming city bus pulled into the center lane to turn and crowded my lane. I swerved to the right to dodge - and swiped a stationary postal truck, mirror to mirror (my passenger-side rearview mirror hit his rear corner round mirror - shattering both). The postal guy had just stepped out of a building near his truck when it happened. I pulled over immediately, startled and pissed at my self, and ran over to the guy, who was laughing his ass off. I guess that mirror gets taken out regularly. He though I hit the bus, and was actually glad that I hit his truck instead. He told me not to worry about it and to call his supervisor when I got a chance. So, I called my supervisor who told me not to worry about it and finish my deliveries. I did so, arrived back at base and explained the whole thing (I even drew a detailed sketch of the incident). My supervisor, again, told me not to worry about it, that these things happen, I'm doing a good job, the company will take care of it. My truck had a new mirror the next day. And, when my supervisor called the postal supervisor, the postal guy said not to worry about it, that these things happen, it was only a mirror. Wow. Aside from the occasional teasing ("now, we just got new mirrors on truck 2, so be careful with it!"), the job goes on.

I bought the 5th edition of Warhammer 40,000. It is not a revamp of the rules, just a refinement. It is well-written, makes the game smoother and more fun, and has some cool new background for the universe. At the brink of the 42nd Millenium (A.D.), Mankind is at the precipice of the next major evolutionary stage - going from a primarily physical creature, to a primarily psychic one. Unfortunately, Mankind is also at the threshold of extinction. Traitors, aliens, daemons and mutants are beginning to overrun the Imperial defenses, their only goal the complete annihilation of the human race (and, in some cases, all living things). Can the mighty Space Marines and the indefatigable Imperial Guard hold off the darkness long enough for Men to step into a new existence?

They will obey the law, even if I have to kill half of them!

2008-07-18T23:53:37Z

So, Kathryn and I saw Mongol. We liked it. It has some weird parts and choppy transitions in the story, but, for the most part, it is a really good movie, and a brilliant portrayal of 12th century Mongolia, including the fated Temudgin (Genghis Khan). The actor who played Temudgin's blood brother, Jamuhka, was awesome. He was probably my favorite character. The "get captured by enemies and somehow escape to take revenge" motif, while the most dramatic part of Temudgin's early life, was way over done in the movie. Still, I couldn't help but like it. Now, if you're expecting 200,000 Mongol riders to descend upon Europe in a deluge of blood and plunder, you will be disappointed. This movie is about Temudgin's rise to power in Mongolia. It explains some of his past, goals, and motivations. It is a great mix of steppe romance and battle. The paper described this movie as a 2+hour slaughter-fest, but there are only a few battles, and none of them are nearly as violent as Braveheart or Gladiator, to name a couple. It is not a standard Hollywood epic. It is a Mongolian/Russian epic. This is a good thing.

I did some research on Genghis Khan. He and his sons sacked every city which resisted them in China, Russian and eastern Europe. But, I found one city-state, Novgorod, led by the Russian folk hero Alexandre Nevskii, that submitted to the Mongols and were largely left alone (they had to give a small tribute of men and money and acknowledge the Khan as their king, but could otherwise do as they pleased, with no garrison).

Funny thing, a couple of the themes in Mongol strongly reminded me of a couple from Hero...

Imagine

2008-07-14T23:57:36Z

So, Kathryn and I saw two movies this weekend:

Hellboy II - I really liked it. While it was not as good a story as the first, the creatures in it made the movie for me. Wink, for example, was awesome. I want to see a whole movie just about him. But, in the proud tradition of Darth Maul, he was killed off far too soon. Still, I loved the wooden figure story at the beginning, the whole idea of a world packed with Men, Elves, Trolls, Goblins, Elementals and other such wonderful beings in the post-modern era (what did the people who saw the Forest God think of their own small lives then?), and the Golden Army itself. I'm a sucker for cool, imaginative monsters. I think the filmmakers should have played on the angle of "Hellboy has more in common with the underworld beings he is fighting against than the world of humans he is fighting for" a WHOLE lot more. That would have made for a better movie. Still, I was satisfied by the ending. Kathryn liked 2 better than 1 because she understood a whole lot more.

Hancock - my wife and I had similar feelings on this one - the first half was great, and then it just started to slide downhill. There is a HUGE twist (that I proudly saw coming) that takes the movie in a completely different direction than you think it is going, and not for the better. I'll not say more due to spoiling things. Overall, it was just OK.

We are SOOO looking forward to seeing "Mongol!"

worship, love, serve

2008-07-11T01:52:49Z

Well, Kathryn and I celebrated our 2-year anniversary. We went to Denver and had a great time by ourselves for a couple of days and then with family for a couple of days. We did some serious relaxing and playing, saw the best baseball game and 2nd best fireworks show of my life, and went shooting - where I learning that my wife can really handle a gun, and that I am positively lethal with a .44 magnum, even after a load of push-ups and screaming (stress factors).

I moved to a new section at work. I now work as a delivery driver. I really enjoyed receiving, but I had to move. Now, I don't even like driving my own car to and from work, much less a huge truck all over town. But, it's what has to happen, and I will make more money via overtime (drivers always work more that 40/week). Every day, though, I see find more small reasons to be very pleased and thankful that I work where I do.

I have started working on my new Warhammer 40,000 army: Chaos Space Marine ("Death to the False Emperor!"). The new edition comes out Friday...

I have been reading an AMAZING book I found at an independent book store in downtown Denver about big battles in the Middle Ages. It is probably the best book on specific medieval battles that I have ever read (from Hastings to Constantinople).

for all of you concerned with work and money (myself included), remember Matthew 6:33. then live it.

Reconquista

2008-06-14T18:15:39Z

So, I just finished ~ 4 hours of house-cleaning. Our place was a mess. It's no one's fault, plenty of both Kathryn's and my stuff lying about, but I was beginning to feel it. I get that from my mom. I have a certain messiness breaking point. Once I hit that, I'm an angry bear until the place is clean. I hit it this morning when I walked into our kitchen and saw an army of ants going after messy dishes. But these were no normal ants, as the messy dishes were SOAKING IN THE SINK! So I started with the kitchen and angrily cleaned until I once again felt a clean peace about my home. Laundry is still going.

Last night, Kathryn and I spent the evening with Jon and Nicole. Nicole made a good midwestern-style dinner, which we complimented with some wine. We then played some Bomberman Land on the Wii (even Kathryn got into it!) followed by a hilarious game of Ticket to Ride: Switzerland Expansion. As it is designed for only 3 players, we decided to go teams, Strawns vs Floyds. There was much kibitzing. The Floyds, having draw very complimentary routes, and having secured a very key tunnel late in the game, ended up winning (which is the first time I've ever won at Ticket to Ride). The Strawns won the prize for most entertaining team-bickering, though. It's good to have them back.

Her only sense left is hate.

2008-06-12T03:53:20Z

So, work today was normal. My crazy supervisor keeps buying me sodas. We have a soda machine in receiving, and my supervisor stocks it. Every day this week he has bought sodas for the receiving crew (me and another guy). He knows I won't drink Coke, Pepsi or Mountain Dew (Mountain Don't, rather), so he buys me Sprite. Now, I am not a huge fan of soda. I would honestly rather drink water (years of military experience there), but when my supervisor shoves a Sprite into my hand every day at about 11:00 when I start to get hungry (and lunch is still 2 hours away, that's right, we break for lunch no earlier than 1 pm every day), I can't say 'no'. So, I've been drinking a lot of Sprite lately.

Kathryn got a gift card to Pei Wei's restaurant at a work meeting this week. Apparently, her business won a Quality Assurance award and the company sprang for gift cards to different restaurants. She randomly drew one to Rudy's BBQ and tried to trade up to Yanni's, but only made it to Pei Wei's. So, to Pei Wei's we went. It was a great mid-week break in our routine. We ordered Mandarin Beef and Honey-glazed chicken. It was amazing. Pei Wei's is such a treat. Then we went to my folk's house for some desert and conversation. My mom and sister just came home from visiting my grandparents in Dallas. It went well. Apparently my granddad's car sales are up. I guess he's moving a lot of Chrysler Pacificas for some reason. And, my grandmother's 80-year-old cat is still alive, apparently held together by dark malice toward everyone in the world but my grandmother. Stupid calicoes.

I started reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. It's the latest epic fantasy series to cross my path. My brother bought me the first two books for my birthday six months ago, and two guys from work highly recommended the series to me. I still want to read some good history, but I have to find it first.

The paper today reported that Republicans in the Senate voted down a bill that would have extended tax breaks for solar power investment. This is possibly the most short-sighted thing I've heard of in months. While I consider my self socially conservative (and no real Obama fan), this makes me really hate the Republican party. That is the sort of decision made by old fools too concerned with today's profit than tomorrow's world. I think I'll be voting 3rd party this election (for real).

I need to write more.

2008-06-11T02:05:49Z

So, Kathryn and I had a good weekend. We went to her company's summer evening at Cliff's Amusement Park - a FREE evening of BBQ and rides. It was good. I like hob-nobbing with her company's top guys. And, we had a lot of fun on rides. The Sidewinder is our favorite. The first time we went on it, we were standing in line watching the bunch before us on the ride. It stopped, one patron stepped off, turned around to face her seat and ralphed all over it. Once the crowd cleared, the 16-year-old employee looked at the barf, grabbed a squirt-bottle and a few paper towels and started cleaning up the seat. Squirt, squirt, wipe, wipe. Satisfied with the seat, he then walked over to the hose and tried to spray down the platform, but the hose had so many kinks in it that he gave up. Back to the paper towels. He valiantly wiped up as much as he could and opened the gate. We all rushed for the seats farthest from the barf.

After a nice morning hiking Los Volcanes (you get an incredible view of Albuquerque from the West Mesa, equal to that from Sandia Peak, just different), Kathryn and I went to Don and Fo's. Fo fixed some mighty-tasty pulled-pork. Then, the ladies went to see a movie and Don and I played Battlelore! I really like this game. It's a great cross between boardgaming and miniatures gaming. We did a scenario with spell-casting, which I had not yet done. I really like the spells. I fireballed one of Don's strong units to death and portalled one of mine into perfect tactical position. He kept forgetting to use his spells (and he had some good ones). I won, but it was his first game.

I really like Battlelore. It's a game I can play with my non-miniature-fanatic friends (once they learn). I like the command system, the combat system and the magic. I think it nicely replicates a lot of the fantasy battle literature I read.

Speaking of, I finished Lord of the Silent Kingdom. I loved it. However, the book ended on such an anti-climax that I was a little disappointed, but at the same time, incredibly eager for the next one. I imagine that the sequel will read like the second half of this one. Still, Glen Cook is awesome. Reading him stirred up some curiosity in Medieval History, so I read the 34-page introduction to a Medieval History textbook that a classmate gave to me but that I had not yet read. It reminded me of why I bailed out of grad school. For example, I want to learn about the Spanish Reconquista. When I say this, I mainly mean that I want to read all the stories about towering heroes and devastating battles, faith versus faith, east vs west, the sword and the scimitar, etc. But what I find is endless theory and how all the heroes sucked and the battles were pointless and faith means little and how east and west were not all that different and absolutely NO swords OR scimitars. Pah. Modern historians excel at taking history and making it as boring as possible. History can be exciting, if it is told well. To that end, I looked for the movie El Cid at my local Hastings and Blockbuster. Neither had it. I may just buy it from Amazon and look in Barnes and Noble for an INTERESTING book about the Reconquista.

I am now completely motivated to finish paying off our last debt, my student loans. This is now a very important goal for me. It will be done.

Daybreaker!

2008-05-24T15:12:54Z

So, this past week of work was really tough. We have a crew of 4 in Receiving, a supervisor and 3 drones who do most of the labor. One of my co-drones took the week off and his absence was tangible. I came home exhausted every day. On the other hand, I realized something this week. I LOVE working hard. I mean, I get a lot of satisfaction out of constant physical labor. I don't know why, I just enjoy it. If I have to do something for 8 hours a day that I don't want to do to pay bills, it might as well be very physical. Weird.

I'm really getting into Lord of the Silent Kingdom (book II of the Instrumentalities of the Night by Glen Cook). His universe is great. It is as if he took Medieval Europe and the Near East and added sorcery, dwarves, and all the gods any human being ever believed in. So far, it's pretty thick on crazy plot and rough dialog, while being thin on action, but I'm sure the good stuff is coming.

Kathryn and I have been loving this new card game Battleline. It is very numbers based which she loves, and it is Alexander vs Darius themed which I love. Also, the mechanics are great. There's really nothing I don't like about it. Except that I'm 4 for 10 now vs Kathryn.

Funny note - now that school is out, my Dad has a lot of free time and has been doing a lot of funerals lately for Kathryn. When she has a family that does not have a pastor, she recommends my Dad. It's win-win!

We received our Economic Stimulus Refund from the gov't. Minutes later it was gone, sunk into my student loan. I know it was the wise thing to do, but I couldn't help but think of all the stuff I could have bought with it (re: new computer or more miniatures). I guess that's the consumer in me being slowly beaten down by godly wisdom...

I am the Law, bitches!

2008-05-14T02:57:02Z

So, my supervisor was out for six days and things went super smooth without him. Now he's back and the atmosphere in the warehouse is tense, once again. Still, his absence was good for me, because I learned a whole lot I would not have learned had he not been gone. When I started, he was very clear that all of my question were to be directed to him, and no one else (for the supposed reason that I would get a bad answer and learn bad habits from other supervisors and co-workers). The problem was, that he never taught me how to solve any problem I ran up against, he just solved it for me. But, for six days, I was without his support and had to ask other people or just figure it out on my own. Now I know a bit more about how to do my job well and with less supervision than a week ago.

I finished Cauldron by Jack McDevitt. It was good. I was fully satisfied by the latest resolution in the mystery of the Omega Clouds. It reminded me of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Now I am reading Lord of the Silent Kingdom, book II of the Instrumentalities of the Night series by Glen Cook. Book I was 400 pages of tedious, confusion set-up, and 50 pages of the most awesome pay-off ever in fantasy literature. So far, book II is no exception.

Kathryn and I was What Happens in Vegas tonight. Once again, my wife wants to see a movie I am not sure about, and I end up laughing until I cry (re: Baby Mama). The plot is thin and the characters played, but there were some funny, funny jokes, 'til the very end I was laughing out loud.

I saw a preview for Empire: Total War. It's yet another reason to buy a new computer, and fast...

What to do, what to do?

2008-05-09T03:13:41Z

So, Kathryn and I finished Battlestar Galactica: Season 3 (MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW). The first few episodes about the escape from New Caprica were AMAZING. I loved the space battle between two battlestars and 5 baseships. That whole arc was great. I thought the middle of the season was pretty slow, with a lot of filler episodes, though I liked the boxing match episode and how both Starbuck and Tigh came out of New Caprica so messed up, but slowly chose to "become human" again. There were many less interesting happenings, though. The final two episodes were pretty cool. I kind of thought that pitting Lee against his father AGAIN was chessy, but it played out well. The season's end was mind-exploding. Wow. Kathryn called it all the way, too. From when the Cylons began talking about the mythical 5, she was saying that they were in the fleet and even ID'ed Starbuck early on (though that was pretty obvious when she "died". I thought the 5 were going to be some transcendent cabal from Earth or Kobol. Anyway, great ending and we are looking forward to season 4.

I sold a bunch of my unused miniatures to a guy at work who is just as big into mini games as I am. The money will go toward my next 40k army, Chaos Space Marines!

I had an appointment with a recruiter from ITT Tech tonight. We talked about their associates' degree in computer engineering. I do not want to spend the next several years in the warehouse OR in sales, so I am investigating other options (now that I at least have A job). It's a good program with very aggressive job placement, but it means 6-10pm m-f for the next 18-24 months. And $478 / credit hour! That's almost twice as much as UNM. I think I'll keep looking.

In the meantime, my job is great: no stress (other than my hate-filled supervisor), plenty of exercise, I'm never bored, and most of my co-workers play some form of game (RPG, miniature, PC or console). It's good for now...

The fallen will be forever remembered as the Emperor's Finest...

2008-05-04T04:31:07Z

So, I listened to one of my favorite albums today, one that I had not listened to in a year or so: Blind Guardian's A Night at the Opera. Damn, is it awesome. It is my favorite and easily one of their best, yet probably their most "produced". It has so much layering that I don't know how they would do some of those songs live. Still, it is hard, melodic and as epic as they come, with songs about Jesus on his way to Jerusalem for the last time, the horror of a medieval battlefield, the doom of Cassandra, the role of divine judgment, and a 15-minute opus about the siege of Troy.

I had a great gaming weekend. Kathryn and I had dinner last night with a new young couple from church. They just moved to the Duke City from the Florida Keys. Good dinner, followed by some Carcassonne, which Kathryn won. Then we played Catan with our Crusade group for the last time tonight. One of the freshmen I've been training to take over, Tyler, won handily.

However, this afternoon, I got in a great game of Warhammer 40,000. First off, I finally won! The Emperor's Will be done! I played with a guy from work who had not played in a few years and was very rusty. I, on the other hand, had scanned all the Warhammer forums for the best way to play my army. And, to top it off, he rolled very badly while I rolled like a chosen one of the dice gods. It made up for my last two games of bad rolling.

What follows is a quick battle report...

//Thought for the day: Fear not the psyker.//

We played Secure and Control at 1500 points. There were three strategic points on the battlefield. After 6 turns of play, whoever controlled two of them would win. I played my Storm Bringers Chapter of Space Marines (with Cleanse and Purify / We Stand Alone), he played the Tau (anime-inspired aliens). The table had a big forest on my left, CONEXes in the center, and ruins (my side) & bunker (his side) on my right. There were strategic points in the forest, Conex yard and ruins.

I took a Master with Command Squad in a Razorback transport, Librarian who accompanied a Tactical Squad in a Drop Pod, Tac Squad in a Rhino transport, full Assault Squad, Predator (with 3 lascannon), Dreadnought (with assault cannon), Land Speeder (with multimelta).

He took a battlesuit Commander, two squads of two battlesuits, two full Fire Warrior Squads, two heavy battlesuits and a Hammerhead tank (with railgun), and a maxed-out squad of Kroot mercenaries (like 30 models strong!).

He deployed his huge Kroot squad behind the forest with his commander in support, battlesuits in the middle, and infantry with tank support around the bunker on my right.

I used the classic Refuse Flank stratagem, placing my tank behind the ruins to keep him honest on that side and the rest of my force on my left near his forest. I won roll for turn and chose to go first.

I rushed everything I had toward the forest with the Kroot, and popped a heavy Broadside battlesuit with my Predator. He smoked one of my
transports and killed a couple of marines in return.

On turn two, my Drop Pod arrived behind his lines, killing two battlesuits with plasma and bolter fire (though I lost a marine to an over-heating plasma gun). My Command Squad and Tac Squad in the forest killed about half of the Kroot squad with combined bolter and flamer fire, breaking them. Then, the Librarian in the Drop Pod used his Fear of the Darkness psychic power, summoning dark warp energies to show the Tau commander his utter insignificance in the universe. The Tau leader fled the battlefield, screaming. My Predator blasted another heavy battlesuit. On their turn, the Tau killed a few more marines and blew up my land speeder.

On turn three, I consolidated on all three objectives, wiped out a Fire Warrior squad with my Assault Squad and began to redeploy. By this time, I had all three objectives and had destroyed or routed 75% of my opponents' army. He was done and surrendered.

Yes, I rolled like mad and he rolled like crap, but I used my army properly this time, focusing my elite forces against his weak points and pressing the advantage. Every unit I took was powerful, tough and mobile. They all rushed his lines at vulnerable spots, except my tank which sat still to fire all its guns. I played pretty well.

We'll play again in a couple of weeks, now that he's got a taste for the current rules.

//end transmission//