This afternoon, my wife learned that her last mammogram had an abnormality. My wife is really scared that the cancer has returned. There is no way to get her in for additional tests until December 9^th. Then we have to wait another week before we hear any results. So we will stew for the next several weeks and imagine the worst scenario. We will get confirmation right before Christmas.

Any prayers would be appreciated.

Battletech

Another victory for the boy. The scenario was that three civilian shuttle craft landed at a nearby fuel depot. Unfortunately, it was occupied by the enemy. My company was deployed to protect them. Andrew’s mission was to destroy them.

The game lasted three turns. Yup, do the math. He took out one craft each turn. I had to admire his ability to keep focused on the objective. I was popping fuel tanks all around him and his units were suffering major damage. He just completely ignored my units and poured fire into the shuttles. And walked away with the victory.

The only good thing for me was that I did not lose a single unit. (The shuttles were civilians requiring protection.) Andrew lost three tanks, so in the long haul, this battle may work to my advantage.

We have decided on a change of pace for the next battle. Were are going to have a deep space aerospace fighter battle. Since I have lost all of my fighters, Andrew has graciously allowed my to bring reinforcements in from one of my inactive battalions. His pilots are vastly better than my reinforcements, so I fear this will not go well for me. Oh well, maybe I will take a few fighters with me.

Mechwarrior 4

We purchased MW4 for our PC three weeks ago. We both love it. We really enjoy have a merc company to run.

Dawn of the Jihad

I purchased this book last Thursday, and am surprised by how much I enjoy it. I am very much looking forward to resolving our current campaign and starting the campaign at the end of the book. It will not work well for clanners, so my plan is the take Andrew’s merc company from MW4 when he finishes the game and transfer them to paper. He then can continue using that unit for the Jihad scenarios. It looks like a new Falcon unit is being introduced; the Green Ghosts. If we finish up these scenarios before the next book comes out, I might work up some battles where Andrew can run the Ghosts.

Oh, and I think the authors have borrowed from Spammy.

Page 96 “Target Practice on the Rim”

[Dredge Two] Great Dashkuta, Red Raider is gone…They took out a fragging Buccaneer with only three fighters…oh no, here they come….

I am sure they switched some letters so that Spammy can’t sue. Anyway, periphery bums who babble about the Dashukta. I think that is the coolest thing. Even if it is a bunch of nasty Snow Ravens beating up on some poor uneducated slob. But maybe that’s just because I am a periphery bum who babbles about the Dashukta.

Wife

Tressa hurt here back about six weeks ago, and it still bothers quite a lot. It is a lumbar sprain. At first, the doctors couldn’t do anything for her. Finally as a last straw, they put her into physical therapy, and that is helping a lot. Still, it looks like it will be a long time for total recovery.

Daughter

Michelle is leaving for National Catholic Youth Conference this Thursday. She is flying to Atlanta. I have to have her at the airport at 5:00 am. This will be her first weekend away from all of her family. She is ecstatic. I am terrified. At least she is traveling with a great group of young ladies and good chaperones.

More later.

This is what has been going on with me:

VICTORY IS MINE!! Yes, I have achieved the level of tactical skill which allows me to defeat a 9 year old boy. My son and I finished our “Giant Battlearmor Scenario”.

I took in 4 Badger APC’s and 15 IS Battlearmor squads (5-man squads). My son had 2 Shrecks, 16 Fa Shih squads and a Thunderbird fighter making strafing/striking runs. We played on a map that Axeman posted several months ago from his online WWII game. Playing on that map was a little awkward. I could only enlarge it to a 24”x24”, which left the buildings a little small. But we made it work and had a lot of fun.

By all rights, Andrew should have won. My objective was to capture the buildings. If he had planted his land mines inside buildings, I would have been screwed. But for some reason, he nearly ignored the ability to lay land mines. Only 2 squads laid any mines. He tried to go toe-to-toe with my squads. The result was that he got creamed. But afterwards, we discussed how he could have won, and he really came away from this with his head up. In fact, he asked me if he could design the next scenario, and was excited that I said yes.

The boy has started classes and is enjoying them. Fourth grade is a fun time. He is currently doing a fundraiser by selling Supersaver cards. Anybody want one? They are also raising money for some of the victims of Katrina that have had to move into our area.

At home, he has recently designed our latest Battletech scenario. I forced him to write it out, and I will share his opening with you.

“You have landed in a clan fuel yard to refuel your ships. You have 8 mechs and 4 tanks. Destroy the clanners with out losing your 3 ships or your army.”

Yup, we are fighting a battle in the middle of a giant fuel yard. We have only played through the first round and fuel tanks are going off like firecrackers.

My girl has started classes. She really enjoys being a sophomore. She enjoys watching the freshmen struggle through all the newness of high school. But the big news is that she has her drivers permit. We have been teaching her to drive and it has been going very smoothly. Hopefully, there won’t be any problems.

Tressa has been working her Tupperware business very hard the last several weeks. Tupperware had a program where she could earn a trip to Cancun. Unfortunately, she failed to recruit enough consultants for the last intermediate deadline, so she is now out of the running. But her hard work has paid off . She has built up her team and sales have increased. As she says, “I shot for the stars and landed on the moon.” She is really looking at this in a positive way.

I am shocked by what has (and hasn’t) happened in the areas hit by the hurricane. Please support those folks by any means you can.

That’s all for now.

Ugh.  My work load has increased dramatically. Too many people have quit, and the rest of us have to pick up the slack. I have been so busy that I have had to postpone my vacation to Omaha. Needless to say, I am not logging online very much. Also, one of my bosses explained to me that my online activities at work are being monitored. It was a polite discussion, but I will now only surf the web from home with my slow dial-up connection. Bleach.

Anyway, I did get up to Kansas City for the first I-29 Challenge event. Unfortunately, it started 4 hours late, so I had to leave after only one game. I lost. But, I was winning the entire game up until the very last round. Oh well, maybe I will get up there for their third event. I had to miss the second one June 18.

If work slows down, I need to help my daughter study for her driver’s permit. Yes folks, my 15 year old is getting ready to hit the road.

My son and I still have not played our Battletech scenario. Need to make that happen soon too.

And of course, I need to plan a date with the wife. There is a pizza place in town that has a band come play on Friday nights. It might be fun to go there. They are actually more of a comedy routine.

And some of this might actually happen. We just hired another engineer. He moved to Springfield to get away from Tulsa Oklahoma.

Bye for now.

Last week Southwest Missouri State U had an open house at their Baker Observatory. My son and I went and were allowed to look through the 16” scope. What a fantastic view of Saturn. I was even able to see the Cassini gap between the rings. They also have a 14” scope, but it is connected to a computer, so you have to look at the computer screen to see the image. That just does not have the same feel. Also there were about a dozen people there with their personal scopes who allowed visitors to look through them. They were mostly 8” scopes, but I was amazed at how well they performed. One lady had hers aimed at Jupiter and I was able to see some of the cloud bands. What a fun evening we had.

Where were my daughter and wife you ask? Well, the girl was hosting a slumber party that night, and the girls could not be less interested in astronomy. Which means that my wife had to stay home and watch over 4 giggling teenage girls. It was probably for the best anyway. My boy pesters the girls every chance he gets, so splitting them up made for a peaceful evening.

Hellhound is hosting a Battletech tournament in Kansas City. The first events will occur over Memorial Day weekend, so I think that we will go up. I am actually starting to get a little excited about it. Hellhound’s hobby store is competing with a hobby store in Omaha, so it is called the I-29 Challenge. I hope it is a success and turns into an annual event.