Happy New Year!

Whew, it has been a very hectic couple of weeks. Thanks to my business trips, our holiday prep time was severely curtailed, which meant that Gwen and I were doing crazy things like taking the boys to see

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The Fallon “Petting Zoo”

As I mentioned in my previous update, I was at Naval Air Station Fallon this past week for a conference. Near the building where that conference was being held is what the aviators refer to as the “petting zoo,” which is a static display of a number of US and Russian aircraft. Here are the pictures I took of the display!

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A Stranger in A Strange Land

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Greetings! It sure has been a busy few weeks. Last week and this week I’ve been on the road for work; last week to San Diego, and this week to Fallon, NV. It’s a bit of a bummer to miss this much time with Gwen and the boys this close to Christmas, to say the least. However, the work I’m engaged in has been interesting, at least. It is an interesting experience seeing Fallon for the first time…this place, the home of the “Top Gun” air-to-air weapons school, is deeply

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My Adventures With Kerbal Space Program

Space…the final frontier. These are the missions of the intrepid Kerbalnaughts. Their often short-lived mission: To explore strange rocket-powered contraptions, to seek out new ways to blow up on the launchpad due to staging issues, to boldly explode in ways no Kerbal has exploded before!

Here is my Mun base! The Mun is sort of like KSP's version of the Moon.

Here is my Mun base! The Mun is sort of like KSP’s version of the Moon.

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One Year Later

Hard to believe, but Gwen and I have been back in Virginia for a whole year already! Having the boys around makes things seem to fly by quickly. It’s been a busy year! On top of taking care of the boys, we’ve been getting settled into the house, getting used to my new job, and taking some time to make trips to Indiana for family visits. Of course, I’ve also made a few gaming convention trips, but that’s besides the point!

Lately, I’ve been using my limited free time to either work on my Man Battlestations stuff, play video games (specifically, Kerbal Space Program), or paint models, which is why there hasn’t been a ton of updates here. But hey, what else is new! I do have a few more posts planned for the (hopefully) near future, including one on how I’ve been blowing up Kerbals in the name of exploring space. Stay tuned!

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Reading List

One of the activities that had to kind of go by the wayside during my department head tour on the boat was reading; I managed to knock out the occasional novel on weeks where the work on duty days didn’t go too late into the evening, and my discovery of Audible was also a revelation. Still, my To Read pile has been steadily growing over the last several years. So, I thought I would talk about a handful of the ones I’m working on as I try to gain some headway on my backlog!

Fighting the Great War At Sea – Norman Friedman

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This is a timely book given that we are in the centenary of the First World War, and it is by one of my favorite naval historians to boot! This is a well-illustrated and lavishly foot-noted tome that provides both a very good overview of the naval side of the Great War as well as insights that I have not encountered in all of my previous reading on the topic.

 

 

The Elegant Universe – Brian Greene

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This book was a gift from one of my JOs (Thanks Brendan!). I’ve been working on this one during my bus rides to and from work, and its been a very interesting read so far. It goes into the advances modern theoretical physics has made with string theory, but does so in way that is accessible even to History majors like me. If you ever wanted to know more about the stuff Sheldon talks about on Big Bang Theory, this is the book for you.

 

Makers of Modern Strategy – Peter Paret, Editor

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I just received this as a gift from a friend (Thanks Ben!) who had two copies of the book. It is a collection of essays that discuss influential strategic thinkers and their works from Machiavelli to the nuclear age. I’ve only had time to skim a few of the essays so far, but this looks like it will be a fascinating survey of centuries of strategic development.

Until next time!

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Return to “Normal”

Or, at least what passes for “normal” around here, anyway!

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It’s hard to believe that it has been over two weeks since Gwen, the boys, and I got back from our vacation in Indiana.

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Gen Con Recap

Greetings!

This past weekend I had a great time at Gen Con in Indianapolis. I have been looking forward to attending this event for years, and that anticipation has been building ever since I made my reservations with Geek Nation Tours (GNT) back in March. And I have to say, the trip did not disappoint! So, here is a quick day by day break-down of my experiences.

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What month is it again?!

Yikes! I can’t believe it is the 31st of July already! Given that my informal goal is to update this blog at least once per calendar month, this is getting in under the wire.

Sooo..it has been very busy around here lately. Not long after my last post, Gwen and I hosted a part to celebrate William and James’ first birthday. We had something like 20 people there between her family and mine. Suffice to say, it was a Great Success! Looks for some pictures of the event at the end of this post.

After the party, I’ve been very busy with my job, which has cut into my free time quite a bit. In general, I’ve found that I’ve had enough time to support only one of the following activities on any given evening: 1) Play video games; 2) Paint Models; 3) Do Internet Things. Of these, 1 and 2 have been winning out lately. And, when I have made time for #3, it’s mostly been directed towards doing things for Man Battlestations, rather than writing for this blog. And, there has also been more than a few evening where I haven’t had time to do any of these things! However, I’m just fine with that. The reason, of course, is that William and James are getting more active, and as a result are taking more time

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Home Again!

I got home yesterday from a week-long trip to San Diego for a business conference. I have to say, I am really glad to be back. I went alone, so I was really missing Gwen and the boys by the end of it. Still, it was kind of fun going back to San Diego for

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