Five Things on a Friday: Dear Mr. Fantasy

How are we doing, friends? 

I've been busy this week. It feels like there's a lot going on. I wrote a new prologue for Gun Girl Gracie this week, but as of this writing, I've not even had time to go back through it for its initial rewrite. Right now it's just sitting there, like an itch I can't quite scratch.

Anyway. Let's talk.

Four Things on a Friday: A Personal Round-Up

I want you guys to appreciate how busy I got this week. It's college football Week 0, both AFF podcasts ran over an hour this week, and I'm looking for a cover artist for The Return of Dr. Necropolis. And let me just note that as much as I love that title, "The Return of Dr. Necropolis" is long and a bit cumbersome for an actual book cover.

Sigh.

If you missed it, we had a truly outstanding AFF Army Football Show this week. Shannon Horne's husband Paul Horne joined us for an in-depth dive into Army's O-Line. I can pretty much guarantee that you've never heard anything like this before. 

It got surprisingly mathematical. Paul went straight for my engineer's heart.

Anyway. I am trying to write here a little more often, so here goes.

Five Things on a Friday: Catching Up Since 2020

I have a LOT to do today, friends. But I need to warm my brain up a little before we get into it, and for that, we turn to Five Things. If you're wondering, our last Five Things on a Friday occured on Friday, September 11, 2020. 

So yeah, it's been a while. I hope you're all doing well in what very much feels like a world gone mad.

Go Vote, Friends.

A guy in my office told me last week that he was no longer planning to vote. He is an extremely devout Muslim electrical engineer from Bangladesh now living in Jamaica, Queens, and until recently, he has been amongst the most ardent Trump supporters that I've known. Not to mince words, my friend is the king of "pulling the ladder up behind him." His earnest goal has been to be the very last immigrant allowed into the United States. 

6 Things on a Sunday: Dragon’s Lair + Free Wrestling

I’ve been working on this post since the middle of last week, but without my regular commute rides on the train, my writing schedule is out-of-whack.  Also, the COVID-19 outbreak has gotten so bad that making jokes about it isn’t really in good taste anymore.

Happy Hour at Casa Cabeza in the era of COVID-19.

Well.  Let’s do it.

5 Things on a Friday: Cancel Everything

I wrote this on the train yesterday on my way in to work.  It's been so totally overcome by events in the last 24 hours that I'm just gonna publish it as it was originally intended, and you can all laugh or cry as you see fit.

The original into said simply, "Well.  That escalated quickly..." 

5 Things on a Friday: Purple Rain

Hey folks, happy Friday!  Let’s do it.

5 Things on a Friday: Panic?!

Hi folks.  Happy Friday.  As you read this, I am skiing Mount Snow.  As I write this, though, it’s Thursday morning, and there’s precipitation in Vermont.

So.  Was it rain or snow?  Am I having a good day or a bad day?

With Josh & Rob at Killington.  I'll be with Josh again today.

These are burning questions.  But by the time you read this, we’ll know the answers.  As I write it, however, I can only worry and wait.  Kind of like the Coronavirus.

Twitter is Not IRL

I saw a couple of interesting articles about the Democratic primary election this week, one from the NY Times and one from the Atlantic.  Both papers are struggling to understand the Democratic electorate in the Twitter Age. That’s no easy task.  Bottom line, though, the Young Left of Twitter (YLT) has decided that it hates Mayor Pete Buttigeg of South Bend, Indiana, with an abiding passion.  Apparently, this is because he is either too successful personally or else he’s not far enough left.  Or perhaps both.

My message to those I meet is simple: "este país es tu país."

This country is your country. Everyone who has made the United States their home deserves to participate fully and freely in their communities.https://t.co/sMRkVfwFwF

— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) December 17, 2019

5 Things on a Friday: News Plus Podcasts

Hey folks.  Happy Friday!

5 Things on a Friday: Follow the Money

This is kind of a last-minute effort.  Happy Friday!

This feels like it's been a long week, no?

Remembering Navy's Best

The New York Times obituary for John McCain https://t.co/3deMbFqo4I

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 26, 2018

5 Things on a Friday: We Take an Easy Week

This felt like a slow news week up until yesterday afternoon.  But as much as I'm personally happy that Scott Pruitt is finally leaving the EPA, I don't have anything to add to the story beyond the basics.  I searched for additional stories of relative importance but still didn't find very much.  

So this week’s post is a lot of college football and a bit of D&D.  Yay?

5 Things on a Friday: Praying for a New Plane

I’m back.  I’ve been busier of late, so I don’t know that 5 Things' return is necessarily going to be a regular occurrence, but there’s so much going on that I thought maybe we ought to talk about at least some of it.

Let’s get it on!

5 Things on a Friday: Return to Chaos

Happy Founder’s Day!

On March 16, 1802, Thomas Jefferson signed a document declaring "that the said Corps, when so organized, shall be stationed at West Point... and shall constitute a military academy. The Corps of today celebrated the 216th anniversary of Founders Day.

Photos by: CDT Alex Werden pic.twitter.com/TbVyf7fJgq

— US Military Academy (@WestPoint_USMA) March 2, 2018

5 Things on a Friday: The "Media Rights" Edition

Happy Friday, everyone!

5 Things on a Friday: Into Elimination Game #1

This has been a pretty good sports week.  Army won, the Yankees came back from the brink to take the lead in the ALCS, and even the woeful NY Giants have rediscovered their running game.

This is what the field looks like ONE win away from the series!!!! pic.twitter.com/ch0kxanEer

— Paul O'Neill (@PaulONeillYES) October 19, 2017

Can any of this last?

5 Things on a Friday: Don’t Beat the Fluffy!

Keeping it short this week.  We've had a lot going on at our house, and anyway, the actual news remains as depressing as ever.

Strolling thru Twitter

Fun deets in this Syria tic-toc lede: Trump asked for his daily briefings to include less words, more pictures. https://t.co/h56WmhNFEs pic.twitter.com/8ZZqv220Nh

— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) April 8, 2017

Saturday News & Notes: the AHCA & Army Sports

Happy Saturday, folks!

There's a lot of Army sports on TV today, but first, it'd be impossible not to mention what happened to the AHCA yesterday.  In the end, the House didn't even call their bill to a vote because it became clear that it was not going to pass.  Freedom Caucus members thought it was "Obamacare Lite," a fair charge if you ask me, and moderates in historically Democratic districts thought it cut benefits too much.  Also a fair charge.

In the end, the AHCA was a piece of shit that no one liked, and it went down because, well, no one liked it.