Tag: Kyle

Books December 2024

December 31, 2024 8:24 pm

Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman

While I had somewhat assumed that Forever Peace was a sequel to The Forever War Haldeman addresses directly in the introduction that it is not.

But it does continue to explore and discuss the issues that affect the participants and victims of continuous warfare. It then goes on to explore the idea of what if you could open everyone’s minds to collectivism and seeing humanity as one. What if we could reach a state of mind where violence against others is seen as violence against oneself and therefore pointless.

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

This was my Christmas gift from the girls this year. A Japanese fantasy book (translated) about a cat, books, and an old bookstore. They nailed it.

When Rintaro’s grandfather dies he withdraws even further from the world than usual as he takes over caring for the old bookshop.

Then a cat approaches him for help rescuing books. His love of books empowers him to break out of his shell and engage with the world around him.

And those are the only books I completed in December. Most of my reading was on a book in French and I just didn’t quite finish it. So it will show up next year.

Looking back over this year’s blog posts I tally 41 books for the year! With 1 of them in French.

Garage Shelves

November 30, 2024 7:43 pm

I spent Sunday last weekend installing new shelves in the garage and then reorganizing our storage.

Before:

The new shelves (Everbilt heavy-duty, steel, shelving system):

I didn’t even reach the point of wanting to throw stuff out a window. And I only missed the stud once out of 33 screws.

Now all the Christmas stuff can be in one location instead of scattered all over the garage:

And the final state:

Games November 2024

5:49 pm

I got even less game playing in this month than last month. Hopefully I’ll be able to turn that around next month.

Jess and I completed Quest 10 in Kinfire Chronicles: Night’s Fall. We didn’t manage to destroy the giant moth monster, but we escaped without dying and reached our objective. So kind of a draw.

At the board-game meetup I played Creature Comforts. A very cozy game about collecting little luxuries and comforts to prepare your woodland-creature home for the long winter. Make the coziest home to win. I lost.

Had a friend over and played Wyrmspan with Jess. Jess won handily.

Books November 2024

5:43 pm

The Circuit: Executor Rising by Rhett C. Bruno

Humanity is clinging on throughout the solar system after a cataclysmic collapse of Earth. But the story has little to do with humanity’s fragility. Instead we’re focused on one man’s vendetta against humanity’s continued existence.

He’s kind of a mustache-twirling cartoon villain.

The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells

The classic science fiction story of a man who finds a way to turn himself invisible through a series of bio-chemical reactions. Unfortunately, it also drives him mad.

The Curiosity Cycle by Jonathan Mugan

Theoretically a discussion about how to inspire curiosity in your children. But it feels mostly like a bunch of blog posts smashed into a book. A disappointing lack of serious research analysis and more of “here are ideas I like.”

Recoding America by Jennifer Pahlka

This was a book group pick for work. Was not originally expecting to see Mike show up so much in it.

Long story short, government bodies fail at technological implementation because they’re structured to operate in a 19th century world and actual implementation of policy is considered an annoying detail that politicians don’t want to be bothered with worrying about.

It doesn’t have to be this way. But it currently is. I see a lot of the same organizational faults at the Lab and it’s supremely frustrating.

Whiteout by Ken Follett

It’s Christmas and trouble is brewing for a BSL-4 laboratory in Scotland housing some of the world’s most dangerous pathogens.

Meanwhile a monster of a snowstorm descends upon the region and everything gets more complicated.

3D Prints October 2024

October 31, 2024 4:28 pm

Also didn’t get much designing and printing done this month.

I did make an updated light-switch plate for the living room with fall leaves. Yellow seemed like a nice contrast to the red, but it’s basically impossible to see from a few feet away. Orange would have been a better choice.

And I printed a bunch of things for Heather’s parties. A spider to dangle from the chandelier, the cats and mice for the adventure, and the party-favor pumpkins.

Pretty cool to be able to decide, “I want a big spider to dangle over the table.” Then click some buttons and in a couple of hours and for less than a dollar you’ve got one.