A list of random bits from my life.

• Breathing is so much fun.


• After multiple doctor visits, I'm now on a steady diet of Qvar with Combvient as a rescue inhaler.


• So far, I've only needed the rescue inhaler once.


• Buster Posey was named National League Rookie of the Year, closing out the Giants' championship season with a well-deserved award.


• World Series Champion San Francisco Giants. I'm still grinning at that thought.


• Well, grinning when I have my teeth in.


• Getting back to work was good. I'm amused that even after the past few weeks of crazy, that I come back and am immediately the go-to guy for emergencies and odd runs.


• Like yesterday. A big order needed to be picked up in Stockton and delivered in San Jose. But there were several other stops that needed to be done along the way over a wide area. Guess who got it?


• Yep. And after some confusion, I found my order... all 10,980lbs. (4,980.4kg) of it. 13 bundles of 12' rod and a pallet.


• Normally we limit our loads to 10,000lbs. The maximum weight allowed for the truck is 26,000lbs. The truck itself weighs about 14,700lbs. I come in at 160 or so. So I was probably just under the maximum allowed weight.


• Luckily, I only had one scale between me and my destination, and I knew a couple of ways to avoid it if necessary.


• At some point this week, I pulled a muscle in my shoulder pretty badly. Currently on a vicodin to dull the pain. No beer for me today.


• On the good side, I've finally broken in my new boots. They're actually quite comfortable now that I've been wearing them for several weeks.


• At kshandra's recommendation, I've been reading the Kushiel's Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey.


• Enjoyable, although I have some issues about the whole concept of the Night Court and her merry looting of disparate historical figures and settings has caused me to roll my eyes more than once.


• I will give her credit for a couple of things. She's one of the few writers I've ever seen to grasp the concept of pantheistic religion so intuitively. She's created a sort of fusion between deism and pantheism, where the One God is remote and acts mainly through the various demigods. In Terre D'Ange, the pantheon is centered around the worship of Elua, an angelic being created when the blood of Jesus mixed with the tears of Mary Magdalene in the earth of Jerusalem. Elua had several semi-divine companions, each of whom founded a province in Terre D'ange, and has his own cult. But being, for example, a Servant of Naamah doesn't prevent one from paying homage to Elua or seeking the protection of the Cassiline Brotherhood.


• Speaking of the Cassilines, she's also created perhaps the first accurate portrayal of how an order of paladins should look in a FRPG. The Cassilines are usually second sons from prominent familes, and are trained from the age of ten in the order's martial and religious arts. A Cassiline is pledged to defend and serve. They wear no armor but steel vambraces and normally fight with paired daggers. They draw their swords only to kill. Add in other strictures like celibacy and a semi-monastic life, and you have a great model for what a paladin should be. They'd be hard to model in D&D, but you could easily build a package with the relevant martial arts for them in GURPS or Fantasy Hero.


• On the whole, I recommend the series. The first book is a bit of a slog since the heroine spends most of it reacting rather than acting, and it might be a bit triggery for anyone with a history of sexual abuse, but Carey has created a fascinating, if amusing to a history geek, world.


• I've even manged to gain some notoriety in the series' fandom. After reading a climatic battle scene between a main character who is a Cassiline and another member of his order, I told Kirsten "the fight in the temple was epic, but I can only think it would have been more awesome with lightsabers."


• "David de Rocaille!" ssshhh-Whummmm "Face me!"


• I was really pleased to find that Rob Flynn of Machine Head had released his acoustic cover of Black Sabbath's Die Young as a free download on the Machine Head site. He recorded it the day after Dio died. Amazing version.


• Because of my PET scan Monday, I have a three day weekend. There instructions state that I'm to avoid exercise or stress for 48 hours prior to the test. I'm cool with that. What sucks is no food or drinking anything but water for six hours prior to the test. I see food as a priority immediately after I'm done.


• Can't wait for Thanksgiving.

Comparison of military operational tactics (Snake model)

Infantry: Snake smells them, leaves area.

Airborne: Lands on and kills the snake.

Airborne Ranger: Plays with snake, then eats it.

Armor: Runs over snake, laughs, and looks for more snakes.

Aviation: Blinks while aiming, destroys local village instead, swears the snake had a Stinger locked on him.

Field Artillery: Kills snake with massive Time On Target barrage with three Forward Artillery Brigades in support. Kills several hundred civilians as unavoidable collateral damage. Mission is considered a success and all participants (i.e., cooks, mechanics and clerks) are awarded Silver Stars.

Special Forces: Makes contact with snake, ignores all State Department directives and Theater Commander Rules of Engagement by building rapport with snake and winning its heart and mind. Trains it to kill other snakes. Files enormous travel settlement upon return.

Combat Engineer: Studies snake. Prepares in-depth doctrinal thesis in obscure 5 series Field Manual about how to defeat snake using counter mobility assets. Complains that maneuver forces don't understand how to properly conduct doctrinal counter-snake ops.

Navy SEAL: Expends all ammunition and calls for naval gunfire support in failed attempt to kill snake. Snake bites SEAL and retreats to safety. Hollywood makes fantasy film in which SEALS kill Muslim extremist snakes.

Navy: Fires off 50 cruise missiles from various types of ships, kills snake and makes presentation to Senate Appropriations Committee on how Naval forces are the most cost-effective means of anti-snake Force projection.

Marine Corps: Kills snake by accident while looking for souvenirs. Local civilians demand removal of all US forces from Area of Operations.

Marine Recon: Follows snake, gets lost.

Air Force: Has GPS coordinates to snake. Can't find snake. Returns to base for refuel, crew rest and manicure.


Feel free to add your MOS to the list.

Thor is doing doughnuts...

...right over our home. Nice little storm cell passing overhead.

OK, this is getting frustrating.

I have updated everything; browser, definitions, Windows updates, even made sure that my device drivers are up to date. I have optimized my system until it squeaks. I run a virus scan daily. I've uninstalled anything that might be trying to hog bandwidth. And still we're dealing with horrendously slow net speeds. I just tested on four sites. The average results?

Download: 1.3875 Mbps
Upload: 0.4675 Mbps

Compared with other AT&T customers in our area, that's terrible.