Demolitionist

June 3, 2025 8:50 pm

On Saturday I finally got around to painting the 4th miniature from “Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion.” Only 4 years and 2 months after I painted the first one!

This one is the Demolitionist. Smallest of the four with lots of detail. I spent a little over 3 hours on it. I’m extremely pleased with the painting, but then fumbled the finish by spraying on too much top coat. Now the surface has a goopy appearance and much of the fine detail was lost. So that’s annoying. I even managed to write “BYE” on the left gauntlet! I used the end of the eye on a needle to do that as I need something that, when it touched, wouldn’t bend and smear the paint. Even so it took a few tries.

And the whole gang! In order of when I painted them: Voidwarden, April 2021; Hatchet, November 2022; Red Guard, January 2025; Demolitionist, June 2025.

I guess now I can finally play the game.

3D Prints May 2025

May 31, 2025 4:40 pm

Jess started a new medication which only comes in liquid form, in fact it’s a cough syrup that enhances another medication she takes. To help her remember to take it I designed and printed little bottles to put in her pill case so she sees them when she takes her regular pills.

I modeled it using SolveSpace in like 30 minutes. Pretty happy with how it came out. Here are some of them with the original bottle:

Cough Syrup Bottle SolveSpace ModelDownload
Cough Syrup Bottle STL ModelDownload
Cough Syrup Bottle 3MF Model (with colors)Download


I gave Jess the game Hardback for Mother’s Day. It’s a small box with a bunch of cards in it and some bits and pieces. I found someone designed an organizer for the bits and pieces that looks like a hardcover book. So I printed one of those. However, when I printed it I found it didn’t fit aligned in the box with the cards. It was too wide by ~2-3mm and would bow the box. Rather than try to adjust the model and reprint it I decided to augment what I had with an organizer for the cards so they don’t slide to the bottom when you take some of them out.

So now the bits-organizer sits perpendicular to the cards with room next to it for the game-modifier cards (Fanfiction Cards) with dividers for the other cards to keep everything in place. I’m quite happy with it. Also designed in SolveSpace. I spent a few hours on it partly because I made one design and then decided to scrap it and start over with a different approach.

Hardback Tray Organizer SolveSpace ModelDownload
Hardback Tray Organizer STL ModelDownload

Games May 2025

3:56 pm

No new games this month, so I won’t spend time describing any of them again.

Played Creature Comforts a couple of times. Jess won both times.

Played Kodama. My tree made the tree spirits happiest.

I gave Jess Hardback for Mother’s Day. We’ve played 5 times since then. So far I remain undefeated.

Introduced a friend to The Guild of Merchant Explorers while Jess was off at Six Flags with Heather’s orchestra. I won.

Books May 2025

May 30, 2025 5:34 pm

Wool by Hugh Howey

I’ve read this a couple times before, but wanted something easy to read and familiar while Jess was in the hospital.

What if you’re entire world were a massive silo buried in the earth? Why can’t you go outside? How long has humanity lived this way?

The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst by Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall

A tragic, but fascinating, true story. A contest to see who could be the first person to single-handedly sail around the world without stopping. A man who dreams to make his mark on history. The reality of his under-prepared journey on an untested vessel. His ultimate demise.

Blindsight by Peter Watts

I feel pretty certain I didn’t “get” this book. It’s an odd one.

Okay, so vampires are real, and there are solid biological explanations behind their mythology. They went extinct, but scientists recovered their DNA and brought them back. That’s just a given and entirely secondary to the actual story though, which is about scientists detecting an anomaly at the edges of the solar system and sending a team out to investigate. First contact…..with….something. It doesn’t go well.

The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey

I’m excited for another series from the authors of The Expanse. Somewhat interesting to read back-to-back with Blindsight as many similar themes are explored.

A scattered fragment of humanity has their planet subjugated almost offhandedly by an expanding galactic empire.

You get thrown into the deep end and it took a bit for me to get my feet under me in the universe they created, but I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next installment.

The Weather Machine: A Journey Inside the Forecast by Andrew Blum

This was my pick for my book group at work. It was interesting, but I was hoping for a little more meat.

Interesting to read about how long ago scientists were dreaming of a day that they’d be able to use physics modeling to calculate what would happen in the atmosphere to generate forecasts. And now multiple teams around the world operate supercomputers doing exactly that.