April "Reads"/Reads

Lots of driving for the Army leads to more "reading"of audio books:

• Joe Ledger: Special Ops (Joe Ledger #5.5) by Jonathan Maberry

• A great collection of short stories. The Joe Ledger world combines high tech, investigation, action and, yes, a little of the unexplained (in some ways this is the X-Files from operators perspective as opposed to a more passive special agent perspective). They fill in some of the backstories of specific books and/or characters. This was a excellent way to prepare for the release of the new book in the Joe Ledger series later this month. (5/5) 

• Do Unto Others (Freehold: Ripple Creek #2) by Michael Z. Williamson

• Bodyguards. You may ask yourself, what can be more boring that being a bodyguard. Well.. When you are the bodyguard for the only child (daughter) of the richest man in human space? Well, then things get complicated. Located in the Freehold universe (authoritarian Earth that embodies the nanny state, but also containing Freehold, libertarian paradise) this is the story of the Ripple Creek bodyguards (from the previous book, Better to beg Forgiveness) who have the difficult task of keeping this young woman alive. (4/5) 

• The Dark Between the Stars (Saga of Shadows #1) by Kevin J. Anderson

• Bringing back most of the surviving cast of the Saga of the Seven Suns, this book jumps 20 years into the future (so now the children of the main characters are involved as well). There is a new bad guy for the hero's to face, as well as some returning bad guys and some new allies. It will be interesting to see how the story continues to develop, as the scope of this story is pretty far reaching (which leads to some significant jumps in perspective). Overall a solid story. (3.5/5)
• Chaos (A New World #1) by John O'Brien

• It was an entertaining read. The world is going down due to a flue virus, and the vaccine turns out to be worse than the disease. My one big issue was that it seemed to easy for the main character, Jack. He flies an C-130, there just happens to be one with extra internal fuel tanks. The only person he encounters in the sky is his girlfriends brother? Yeah, I want to be this guys friend since he appears to be the luckiest guy alive (and of course his GF is one of the few survivors at the military base in Kuwait she is at). I will definitely read (listen to) the next book to see where this goes. (3/5)

Net Worth (aka, I love Personal Capital)

Coming in a close second for the title of most boring post, everyone really should know their net worth.

I admit I was lazy up until 2ish years ago. We had plenty of money coming in and being invested, but I wasn't really paying attention to where it was and how it was being invested. I played around with Mint, but that was really focused on budgeting. Then I discovered Personal Capital. It pulled everything together and let me see in one picture where our money was and what it was doing (or not doing as was my case).

Their advisor tools, available for free, are great for you to peer into your investments. One thing that really hit me was the Investment Checkup tool, which shows the pretty impressive amount of fees (and also showed me how how over-invested we were in a variety things (man, was I overweight in the Tech arena)) from my Mutual Funds. This has motived me to do a serious rebalancing of investments (though my biggest one, the Thrift Savings Plan, doesn't offer a lot of options to rebalance. This is mitigated by the impressively low fees (0.02%)), pulling out of a lot of mutual funds (particularly important to me now is the fact that those big distributions at the end of every year? not the best thing from a tax perspective).  It also let us see the most effective way to remove some "bad" (aka, non-deductable. Realistically the only "good" debt is mortgage interest, but there are some exceptions depending on income level) debt (though then I set up a plan to replace that money that was allocated to immediately remove that debt).


BTW, we are also clients of Personal Capital's wealth management, so if you are interested in that check out this link: https://goo.gl/HcAzbi  That and I have been flirting with Robo-Investors (Betterment) Give this link a try betterment.com/invite/danielbuchholz

Constant struggle

I am a big guy. Lately I have been having some success (over the past 6 months I have managed to shed 20+ pounds)...

So the picture on the left is depressing to me. I came back from Afghanistan nice and lean (245lbs, which is a good weight for me). Made for some pretty good wedding pictures, though even by that time I was inching back up.  But now through a combination of renewed commitment to working out, cutting back my soda consumption (and replacing it with coffee, which finally is palatable to me) less eating out (side effect of the budgets post) and a few things I have been trying (adding MSM to my diet, fish oil, less carbs, occasional (once or twice a week) fast (or partial fast) days, vinegar in water before every meal)) I have been able to slowly drag my ass back down to a more acceptable level. 

I like it and now if there are any trendable upticks (since the app I use, Withings, which is tied to my electronic scale will normalize the data set) I take strong action to get it back to normal. I am looking forward to start flirting with the 250 zone shortly (it shows up occasionally after a really good workout).

This post was somewhat inspired by buddy F, who has been tracking his efforts (our battles of the bulges) on his blog at: www.ahealthylife.me  I don't know about the 700 calorie a day thing though that he was doing for a while, that is crazy to me, but it did have some good effects on him.

Shows

It is ironic, given my site's name, that my consumption of "media" has taken a nosedive. I mostly blame it on the whole "being a responsible and caring parent" thing.

I mean, really, no one (I know there are exceptions) went to their grave going, "man, I wish I hadn't wasted so much time interacting with my children." BTW, this is my favorite recent picture... because, yes, that is the Medal of Honor hanging around my daughters neck (though she was probably more excited about the dog to her left). That is Army COL Crandall, MOH awardee (of "We were Soldiers" fame, he was the aviation guy who returned multiple times with supplies and to get the wounded)

But I still find some time to watch a few shows. Right now we seem to be in a new golden age for comic books, not just in the movies (everything from the Avengers to Superman seems to be doing well) but also on TV (and off TV, Netflix has been dropping some awesome stuff as well), which pretty much is taking up most of my viewing cycles. These are about the only shows that I am caught up on:

• Arrow - because the world seems to love moody rich people with no super-powers kick butt. And well.... Felicity....
• The Flash - much less moody and more bright, with bigger and more extreme bad guys.
• Supergirl - still on the edge on this show, not quite caught up on
• Walking Dead - smaller set and way more spoilers floating around
• Fear the Walking Dead - even though I find myself rooting for the zombies against these guys
• iZombie - pretty novel take on zombies and very different from other zombie shows
• Jane the Virgin - what can I say, it is entertaining and I watch it with my wife (interestingly the only one on this list that didn't derive from a comic book)
• some miscellaneous sitcoms (everything from 2 Broke Girls to Big Bang Theory)

Ironically since if I had to describe myself I would say that I was a Marvel Comics guy (vs a DC Comics guy) but overall the DC stuff has been producing a better/more watchable set of shows (I want to like Agents of SHIELD, but it doesn't have the same level of watchability that the DC set does.  Agent Carter is much more watchable (as well as the Netflix shows Daredevil and Jessica Jones) but is a much smaller commitment.

The only other thing I am really watching is a re-watch of Babylon 5, because I can have it on in the background and do other things while I go through the show. Somewhat dated but overall it held up well (JMS did a great job writing this show).

And of course I still make a pretty good dent in the reading pile (based on my other posts). 

Budgets

Aka, the most boring post I will make. But it really is important.

Sometimes it takes a shock to bring about change. A layoff and a new baby on the way can definitely shake one up. Luckily my wife is very organized and a hard worker, so she finally got a new job a month before the arrival of Sean.

But that still forced a re-evaluation of things. You need to make sure that money coming in isn't exceeded by money coming out. When you have 2 kids in daycare (at 16-17k per kid, the DC area costs are insanely high) lots of churn in the budget become important to analyze. Some things just plain old lose (eating out every day for lunch at 10-12 per day, per adult? That adds up quick when you look at it ($120 * 52 weeks = $6240)).  You can buy a lot of bread, lunch meats, and leftovers when you are talking about that much money.  As you narrow things down (there are lot of things you cannot directly control (child care, mortgage) and a lot you only have minor control on (electricity, water, food)) you can see if there are things can be either dropped or that you can get a better deal on (I was paying how much for web hosting?!).

The best side effect of a budget? It has helped both of our waistlines (we know women gain weight during pregnancy, but a little known psuedo-fact (because I said so) is that so do men). Collectively we have probably lost 40lbs+ in the past 6 months.

March "Reads"/Reads

Long books plus long runs seems to even's out my audiobook listening. 

Hell's Foundations Quiver (Safehold #8) by David Weber

• Long book, long series. I think things are slowly coming to a head. Weber's villians, in this case Clinton, are always appropriately hatable that you feel sorry for the people on their team. Almost. David Weber is wordy but the sheer concept of this story keeps me coming back, the combination of "older" tech being aided by futuristic capabilities to help the good guys win really does make this a fun series to read. 4/5 (AB)

Eruption (Supervolcano #1) by Harry Turtledove

• Disappointing. I have been a fan of Harry Turtledove for most of my life so I bought this on his name alone. And while the concept is interesting (The Yellowstone Supervolcano erupts!) it just doesn't feel like his other books. I get it, the idea is to abstract this massive, world changing event and put it up against a personal perspective of the people who are being affected. But this felt more like the disaster films I grew up on in the 80's and early 90's, right down to the corny characters. I don't think I can bring myself to get the next book of the series. I was bored. 2/5 (AB)

Terms of Enlistment  (Frontlines #1) by Marko Kloos

• Good start to a series. Overall this book entertained (always the highest praise from me). The near future looks somewhat bright (at least there is star travel, though Earth itself is looking pretty grim). Following the story of someone from the modern equivalent of the projects (and on the dole) who earned the right to enlist, it is always interesting to me as someone who went through basic training in the USA to compare. Nothing too egregious leapt out at me and the progress of Andrew to first the local Army and then eventually to the Navy was entertaining (I like how when he showed up on his first ship the XO accuses him of being a PX Ranger (bought some awards at the PX that he didn't earn), though I suspect any real XO worth his salt wouldn't have given him the the chance). Overall I was excited to get started on the next book. 4/5 (AB)

Watch on the Rhine (Posleen War: Sidestories #1) by John Ringo, Tom Kratman

• If there is ever a book I have read that most clearly got started over a few drinks, this book is it. I imagine it went something like: "I bet you I can write a story where the nominal good guys wear Sigruden (the Lightning bolt of the SS)" "Hah, good luck with that"  And with that we have this book, which started as a short story and became this full length novel. Where the fricking remainder of the SS is rejuvenated to help Germany fight off the oncoming Posleen horde. Now I share some convictions with the author, Tom Kratman, a retired US Army Officer, so the way that certain parts of Germany are handled came off quite satisfying to me, but overall, like all the Posleen (Legacy of the Aldentia) world this is a grim world. Overall it was a solid addition to the the universe that was created by John Ringo. 4/5 (DB)

Lines of Departure (Frontlines #2) by Marko Kloos

• Continuing a solid series. The storyline flashes forward 5 years to the re-enlistment of Andrew and his Girlfriend. The fight against the against the aliens is going not so well. Andrew has shifted from being a regular swabbie (after converting from being a regular grunt in the first book) to becoming a Combat Controller (basically a JTAC from my military experience. Still part of the space service but down in the mud coordinating air and space support). The best part of this was the humanizing of his relationship with Mother when he is down on leave, taking her out of the PRC and letting her experience some of the world around her). And after getting engaged to his girlfriend (and promising to be back in 6 months) he heads off to fight... not the aliens but the other part of humanity that has colonized deep space (Russian/China coalition). And then things get worse. Finally he is basically exiled (with a whole bunch of other people) onto some ice world.  And then things get worse again. 4/5 (AB)

Angles of Attack (Frontlines #3) by Marko Kloos

• Surviving the trials of the last book, Andrew is now stuck out on the ice world. With a ragtag group of ships from both sides they finally start working together against the enemy menace. After going back to Earth-space, coming back to the ice world and then finally returning to Earth (and linking up with his fiancee) things of course take another bad turn. Looking forward to the next book to see where things go from there. (4/5) AB

Rock and Roll Half Marathon

After a long break from 1/2 Marathons (I had been sticking with my 10 Milers) my siblings caused me to sign up for one. Interestingly I have sort of run this one before (during the short period it was the National Half Marathon). Overall I was quite pleased, finishing with a pace almost 1:30 per mile faster than my Army Ten Miler times in October 2015. Runmeter report of the race.

 Fat Fingered Shoe Shot. It amused me to find it on my phone.

 Pre-Race. There was some mockery since we too the photo in the porta-potty's direction, but unless you look really hard the geometry makes it hard to tell.

Requisite post race shot with medals. 

Overall the race was pretty solid. I even partook of some of the adult beverages offered along the course (beer, prosecco and a margarita shot). It was pretty and not too cold.

Continuing my trend of weird side effects from this particular race, I had several blisters on, of all places, both my hands after this race. Maybe it was some weird reaction to sweat and holding onto the race gummies for 2-3 miles in my hands? Though I will say that even though I am 7 years older from the last time, I look better in these pics than I did in 2009....

My one complaint? The spiffy new shirt I got for the race tore when I wore it later that day after a much deserved shower.

I am already signed up for the next one (they had a great deal right after the race to sign up for 50 dollars).

No really, I mean it

Please stay home if you want to vote for Trump...  For the love of God and this Country. 

Apparently the people in my hometown, the (only half-heartedly) People's Republic of Arlington, listened to the whole voting thing (I think a lot of Democrats crossed the line to have the chance to vote against Trump), but not enough people are listening.

I am voting for the Libertarian candidate if the Republican's cannot figure out a way to not nominate Trump (I admit to mocking the Democrat's "super-delegate" concept for being undemocratic (part of the reason that no one really expected Bernie to get nominated, when you are as plugged in and part of the system as Hillary is, that is a heck of a windmill to tilt to challenge her), but it is looking like a good idea now....). 

I just... can't..... vote for Trump or Hillary.

February "Reads"/Reads

Even more miles for my training equals even more miles for me to listen to books. Though it is a slightly (less so than normal) shorter month.

• Valhalla (Lexy Vaughan Steven Macaulay #1) - Robert J. Mrazek
• Not a bad book. But not interesting enough to keep going. It was interesting how the author tied in the airplane recovery into a recovery effort for, of all things, the Vikings and secret cults. Felt like a mediocre Dan Brown novel.

• Brothers in Valor (Man of War #3) - H. Paul Honsinger
• Continuation of a fun series. I enjoyed the interesting situations and the clever ways that the captain was able to escape. Based on the ending I am interested to see where this goes.

• The X-Files: Trust No One - edited by Jonathan Maberry
• With a new "season" of The X-Files on tv, it was hard not to buy this anthology to get into the mood and revel in some nostalgia. So I didn't resist and was quite happy with the set of stories. The X-Files feels like returning to your childhood and most of these stories captured the feel of the show. While not every story completely engaged me, the overall set made me feel like I got my money's worth.

Vote

Vote.

 am deeply looking forward to tomorrow's primary's here in VA (I got excited as I saw that the signs are up around my local polling place) because finally I can toss my vote into the ring. I am not deeply excited about the other options (I am going to go with Rubio, because he seems to be the best mid-line candidate) but I need to make clear that I don't want Trump as the nominee.

P.S. Ignore the request above if you are planning on voting for the Donald. If so then please, for the love of God and country, stay at home. (and that goes double for Democrats who may think it is funny to toss a ringer into the campaign and vote in the Republican primary. That is the definition of a dick move.)

January "Reads"/Reads

So to humor those who feel that listening to an audio book isn't reading (though it is a big way for me to consume new entertainment).  I have upped my running miles in anticipation of a half marathon in March (I listen to audio books when running, as well as when I am commuting).

• "Steel World" - Undying Mercenaries #1 - B.V. Larson
• Solid SF. Interesting concept with a novel way of killing the main characters. Over and over again. A broad and complex world told from the perspective of a grunt (though he is a "lucky" grunt who seems to always end up in the middle of the actions) with some interesting politics going on in the background. I will definitely give the next book a whirl.

• "A Call to Arms" - Honorverse: Manticore Ascendant - David Weber
• So after a long pause by me from reading any of the Honorverse books, this series continues to drag me in. It offers a unique perspective of the history of the Manticore kingdom from the beginning, before it becomes the super-power that it is in Honor series. Focused mainly on the story started in the first book of Travis Long, this steps several years forward to allow the main character and the supporting cast to move up in rank/responsibility. Covering both the micro (ship to ship fighting) to the macro (big high level political moves) this story has a little bit for everyone, though in particular for those who have grown up reading the other Honor novels.

• "The End Has Come" - edited by John Joseph Adams
• Last of the trilogy, most of the stories here address what comes after the apocalypse. After the apocalypse you say, how can there be a story? Well... Humans are tough and we have a habit of pushing onward even through unspeakable odds (even a virus that kills 99.99% still has some survivors). It was interesting to see how the stories progressed through this set (since most of the stories here had a previous story in the other 2 books (before and during the apocalypse of course)).

Back from the Dead (or also known as living a lot of Life)

Sydney got older, got a baby brother (Sean) and life is just plain busy.
We have a new house (near Ballston), H has a new job, I have a new position in the Army (Somehow the Army decided I should be a Company Commander. 45 people working for me. Not what I ever expected and more work than I realized, but it is what it is. I hit 11 years with the Guard in March) and the world just seems busier.

I wanted to bring this blog back from the dead because I wanted to work on my writing and have an outlet different from the frenzied update world of Facebook and Twitter.
More to follow in the future

Happy

Though I am not the UN's biggest fan, I can get behind the  UN International Day of Happiness, a day intended to "reclaim happiness – away from the fake images of happiness in the adverts and back towards the things that matter."

Anyone who knows me knows that I am generally happy person, happiest when surrounded by friends and family.  There are of course 2 things that make me happier than most, my wife and my daughter.

New Addition to the Family

On June 16th, 2013 I was honored to help welcome my daughter,  Sydney to the world (thanks to my lovely wife, Hannah (aka Cupcake Girl from long ago)).  I am so excited to have her enter our lives!!!

The Engines of God (The Academy #1) by Jack McDevitt

The Engines of God (The Academy #1)

by Jack McDevitt

Solid and engaging SF. One of the things I respected about this book is that it shows the future as a messy place.  Sure, they have FTL travel and communications but everything is not hunky-dory at home.  Earth is a messed up place that seems only to be getting worse, science is still operating on a shoestring budget, the military/government is still stepping on peoples toes and the universe is a big scary place.

Spanning 5 separate planets, this tale is good (generally what I have come to expect from Jack McDevitt).  We have the stars but they are a fairly lonely place. Only one alive race has been found (the are technologically around the WWI level), another never got off their planet and died out and a third was engaged in a game of clue, placing structures near all three races (they left a statue near us an weirdly empty city on a moon of another race).

The main characters are mostly archaeologists, who only seem to have exciting jobs in the stories that are written (like Indiana Jones) who are trying to put all the pieces together.  There is action scenes scattered all around story as well as high tech action.  I am really looking forward to the next book!

Redshirts by John Scalzi

Redshirts

by John Scalzi

Ah, redshirts. It seems to be a sign of a true SF geek to immediately get the reference, vs those would stare at you blankly if you referenced it.  But what if you suddenly realized that you weren't the main character in the reality that you inhabit. Worse, you come to the suspicion that your part in the show may be to become just interesting enough to make the audiences feel some emotional loss when you died. And everyone around you is dying at a rate unheard of for any other ship in the fleet.

Well, this is what happened to the main characters of this story.  And after living through a dreaded away mission (except for their dramatically lost friend ironically) they finally figure out what is going on and even when their show is being written (though of course via divergent universes there is no reference to their show).  After kidnapping a main character (one of the best ways to ensure that they don't die off-screen) they are off to the past to try and stop the writers from killing them and their compatriots.

Overall a fun book, with entertaining characters and a sly wink to a bunch of in-jokes. It may not be a book I ever go back to re-read but it was an interesting story.

Midst Toil and Tribulation (Safehold #6) by David Weber

Midst Toil and Tribulation (Safehold #6)

by David Weber

Treading water. When you get a series that has such breadth and scope such as the Safehold series (in particular when you are talking about a book that spans the entire world where the fastest objects are moving at around 20mph) you sometimes have a book where most of the story is spent getting things tidied up from the last book and preparing the ground for the next.  Midst Toil and Tribulation is one of those rebuilding books.

Sure, some things happened.  Fights occurred, progress was made, troops were moving across the world. But in the end you find yourself wanting, waiting for the next book because that is when the interesting stuff is going to happen.  I appreciate the series and look forward to the next book but this book just whets your appetite for the next book, leaving you unfulfilled and wanting.

Fuzzy Nation (Fuzzy Sapiens) by John Scalzi

Fuzzy Nation (Fuzzy Sapiens)

by John Scalzi

A rewrite of a previous story with the same name, this story updates a story that many people, myself included, have never read to contemporary standards.  While a number of the points were updated to account for how we see the technology and standards for contemporary society, I could very much feel the underpinning concepts that carried through from this older story.

A lot of older SF has the super-competent character who is so much smarter and slicker than his peers effectively manipulating the other characters of the story.  In this case it is even more appropriate that this same archetype is also a disbarred lawyer who utilizes his knowledge to control the whole flow of the story.

I was definitely entertained and enjoyed the story throughout though.  From the introductions of the Fuzzies to most of the elements and characters, this book brought me solidly into the story and entertained throughout.

Jack Holloway, a dis-barred lawyer, is a prospector on Zara 23.  In his searches he has struck the mother load, something that would pay out billions of dollars, but he now faces a moral quandary.  Small creatures that he calls Fuzzies have taken to visit his place.  He shares their info to his ex-girlfriend who chooses to file a claim that they are an intelligent lifeforms, which would jeopardize Jack's future payday.  Throughout the book Jack must balance his his desire to strike it big with the potential cost of endangering the fuzzies.

The Evolutionary Void (Void #3) by Peter F. Hamilton

The Evolutionary Void (Void #3)

by Peter F. Hamilton

What a solid ending to a pretty fantastic series.  Considering this is the end of the second trilogy based in this fascinating universe that has such a massive scope that it was entertaining to see where it would go.  Full of everything from post-Singularity intelligences, uploaded human consciousnesses, cyborgs, magic and even some elves tossed in.

To really get this book you must have read the previous books, preferably even the series that preceded this one given that is where many of the characters and came from.  This is a SF series that evokes the older SF, large in scale and concepts coupled with solid contemporary characters.

Oath of Swords (War God #1) by David Weber

Oath of Swords (War God #1)

by David Weber

This may have been the only "pure" fantasy (vs urban fantasy) books I have read in a long while.  I have read Weber's Reef series but that has a serious SF element. Not that I haven't read fantasy ever (100's of books disagree with that estimate) but it's not my primary genre.

I gotta say that I liked this book. The story kept me interested the whole way through and I turned around and bought the next book in the series right after finishing this one.

As to the story? It helps that it is an interesting world, populated by both the standard races (humans, dwarves, elves) as well as the unique (like our lead character and sidekick, who are hridani, a tall human like people with different ears). Bahzell is at his core a good guy, and therein lays the problem, as his tendency to do good gets him into deeper and deeper trouble.  And then the Gods and Mages get involved....

I very much look forward to reading the next book.