Steph had a great get together of probably 20 people for Mac ‘n’ Cheese. She made 3 casserole dishes of it, and it was all delicious. On top of that Wit cooked 2 more casserole dishes of mac ‘n’ cheese, and a big pot of tomato soup. I broke out some of the cider, and it was a wonderful gluttonous evening. I played Nick in a game of Balloon Cup, and won by a tiny margin. We also decided to play a game of 7 wonders with Nima, and I lost that gloriously. I was stuck between strategies, and it didn’t pan out. Chris destroyed in that game with a full set of science; not a single other person played a science card.
I really enjoyed the 7ish mile hike with Jeff and Patty. They are really great to chat with and share a lot of world views that I have. They are active and energetic, but relaxed. I get the feeling that the work at Apple grates on them especially badly since they are of the relaxed temperament. Patty had just left Apple, and she was really enjoying the mini retirement. She is using mainly to get back in touch with friends and previous co-workers. Jeff is working hard, harder than he’d like, and is doing well at Apple.
This book was really good, but they took out one of my favorite parts. There wasn’t any empire perspective, and I think that it not being mentioned was a big oversight. Since the empire ships were watching the battle they should have at least mentioned what the empire plans would be at that point. I still really liked the book.
The action in this book was great. I really like the overview of the battle from the Empire perspective. Their incredulousness is one of the best parts of the entire book. I was surprised by the ending, but I suppose the series was setting up for it more or less.
This book was pretty good, the action picks up and is still building up at the end of the book. I really like the cloud that they run across, but I don’t understand how it would work. I will have to look that one up since I really like the idea of the sphere. I was a little disappointed by the tiny amount of info they give on the empire, but I understand the need to not let anything out.
Stephanie got to give Archer Kitty lots of belly rubs. As you can tell from the pictures and this video archer was really enjoying it. Lana really likes the paper that has been coming with the Amazon packages lately. They like burrowing into the paper and just sitting there while looking outward.
Iliya, Chris, Erik and I played a game of Cyclades. It went a lot longer than expected, because we were very good at blocking victory in several conditions. Towards the end there was very little mobility, and I was able to take over half the map. This made it just a matter of time until I was able to win. I also took the liberty of wiping Chris off the map before winning. Chris was very close for a few turns with just a single move to victory, but we were able to block him.
I had a good time with the M15 sealed deck. Andrew help me redesign my deck. A few times in a row I got terrible draws of no land. This made it frustrating, but overall it was fun. I still much prefer drafting.
This book as it’s main point said that you need to understand where the other party is coming from in a negotiation. The secondary points were that negotiation starts with research and building up leverage, along with that you should continually negotiate for information. I really like the lessons that it puts forth and need to remember then when I next am going to be negotiating.
It's an Exciting World 