Online board games
I have accounts on yucata.de, boiteajeux.net, play.boardgamecore.net, and boardgamearena.com.

On all of them, I am Dagrim.

I'm often open to games, asynchronous ones most of the time, synchronous with pre-arrangement.

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Free Murderbot!
Free (well, it will actually cost you an email address) Murderbot diaries 1-4 (though only in the next couple days):

https://ebookclub.tor.com/?utm_source=exacttarget&utm_medium=eblast&utm_term=torcomebookclubpromo-mrdrbtebookseriesgwy&utm_content=na-signup-giveaway&utm_campaign=mrdrbtebookseriesgwy

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Yellow-curry-pork
I have yellow-curry-pork simmering on the stove. We'll see how it turns out. (There was a pork tenderloin in the freezer. There was a tub of yellow curry paste in the fridge. No idea who's it was, but it still smelled good, so I used most of it. :) )

#Covid-19Cooking

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Village play-by-web
I played two games of Village as a play-by-webcam today. It works pretty well, though it does help if the remote players have a decent resolution image of the board for reference purposes. Oscar won the trans-Gatineau game (congrats Oscar, well done for their first game of Village) and I won the trans-Atlantic one.

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Splitting firewood.
So, I've got a bunch of un-split Manitoba Maple outback. I can do this solo, in full isolation. In fact, when swinging an axe, 2m is pretty well minimum distancing -- 5m is probably better. And it would get me outside, some exercise, and be productive.
Yet, I can't help thinking it might not be the best idea.

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And then there were none
Room-mates, that is.

Today I got an email from the occasional room-mate that he has had a sore throat the last couple days -- so he's going to self-isolate at his other residence.

The other room-mate has been called in to work (in/near Montreal) for some field testing (actual outside) of equipment, so while he's been far more resident than normal the last couple weeks, he's going to be in Montreal for at least the next couple weeks.

So, even more lonely than it was here at home.

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Lac Sam day
I went out to Lac Sam to do some route development, in the carefully-distant company of Simon. (We drove out separately, and worked on routes that were at least 2m apart from each other.) We were about 6 hours car-to-car, including some snowshoeing around to see if we could get to a cliff at the right end that has a big roof on it. We found a look at it -- it looks like a decent height cliff, so some interesting routes might go in.

I also have gotten more exercise today than I've had in weeks. I'm sure I'm going to feel it tomorrow.

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The Game
Damn commodorified anyway. I just lost The Game.

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Desperate times...
desperate measures.

I'm cooking a whole double-batch of lentil-barley stew, enough to feed about 8 people, just for me.

#Covid19Cooking

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Parents
I just called my parents to tell them they're not allowed to go out shopping. If they can't arrange delivery for whatever they need (groceries, pharmacy, whatever), then they are to call me to get things, rather than do it themselves. They sounded like they listened, but... who knows.

They're 82 and 85 -- I'm worried.

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Work closed
Blackberry closed all their buildings, told everyone to work from home unless "critical". I resisted pressure to consider webinar training for 4 customer-trainees in Texas to be considered "critical". I will be working from home for the foreseeable future.

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At work :(
So my boss' boss' boss said I should come in to work to do the (now remote, not trip to Texas) training for the customer. I'm not entirely happy about this -- though I will be pretty distanced at work, since it means spending most of the day in a small meeting room by myself.

On the plus side, that's the smoothest and fasted my morning commute has been in years, if not more than a decade -- under 20 minutes.

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Home late!
I am home, though I got in really late (4:05am touch down, home just after 5am) last night/this morning.

But I still made it out for climbing, then Pho with France before a nap caught up to me.

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YVR -> YOW
I'm coming home from a good week of skiing at Whistler/Blackcomb (though mostly Blackcomb) with Michael. Ok, skiing and gaming.

Unfortunately, my flight home has been delayed... but Air Canada will pay for that delay in single-malt Scotch.

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Didn't die!
It seems for most of my vacations, "I didn't die today", and "I didn't get badly injured today" are, actually, relevant and meaningful statements.

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YOW -> YVR
I am off to Whistler/Blackcomb for a week of skiing with Michael. And, this is the first time in a long time that I've done a direct flight anywhere. It feels strange having just one boarding pass!

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MTY -> IAH -> YUL -> YOW
I am on my way home from a week of rock climbing in EPC with Kate and Phil. We had mixed to good weather and got a bunch of good climbing done. Unfortunately, I seem to have picked up a cold while I was there. (At least, I'm pretty sure it is a cold, despite Kate drinking Corona on the day I got sick.)

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YOW -> YYZ -> IAH -> MTY.
There have been some delays... Kate has been rerouted through Chicago to be later than us rather than earlier... or tomorrow if she doesn't make her transfer there. All of the excitement.

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Nasty Age of Steam game
A 5-player rust-belt game with initial cube placement making most everything west of Chicago essentially dead -- that is, almost useless for both early, mid, and late game. Ugh.

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1830 last night
We played 1830 last night -- well last night and this morning because 1830 -- and it was a good game. 4 players, all had played some 18xx before, though we had to refresh 1830 rules (on which I was a bit rough, since I hadn't played 1830 in a while and hadn't reviewed cause I thought we might be playing Food Chain Magnate instead). The top three finishers were close (foms: 9029, me: 8982, and Dan at 8900), too, making for an exciting finish.

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Home
And what lovely weather to come home to.

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YYZ!
Toronto achieved, though a bit late. Irrelevant, though, since my Ottawa flight has been cancelled (freezing rain), as has been the next one. I will, hopefully, be on the following one, if it goes out. We shall see.

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FRA -> YYZ -> YOW
I should be home in time for dinner!

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Arrived!
I have reached Friedrichshafen! Our plane out of Toronto was about 2 hours late departing -- luckily I didn't have a connecting flight in Frankfurt.

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DTW -> YYZ -> FRA
Confusion was good, now I'm off to Germany for a week for business.

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YOW -> YYZ -> DTW
Off to Confusion.

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2019 reading list
2019 reading totals:
69 books (2018: 76)
(S)WM: 6 (2018: 14)

I continue to enjoy the diversity in my fiction reading that this project has brought to my life.

A Trail Through Time - Jodi Taylor. Ok, still fun, but, if anything, even more contrived plot (in a time-travel series). I'll read the 5th I have, but not buy more.
A Climber's Guide to El Potrero Chico - Simeon Heimowitz. An extended rant about route development in EPC with occasional route information interspersed.
Good Guys - Steven Brust. Good -- good yarn, well put together.
Silver Moon: A Wolves fo Wolf's Point Novel - Cahterine Lundoff. Good, queer, would buy more but not chase down.
Stay Crazy - Erica L. Satifka. Highly unreliable narrator (schizophrenic) in a story where it is hard to tell "voices from aliens" from "hallucinations". Not entirely my thing, but not bad.

Hull Metal Girls - Emily Skrutskie. Pretty good. A few suspension-of-disbelief problems (generation ship where they far too casually lose air from airlocks), but a good tale.
The Song of Hadariah - Alisse Lee Goldenberg. Meh-. Characters suggest YA (summer before last year of high school) -- but the problems/resolutions and writing seem too simplistic for even that -- more like juvenile? Not worth getting more.
Inside Job - Connie Willis. (ebook). Meh+. Short. Do we really need another story where a movie-star beautiful rich women falls for a nerdy guy? Or pander much?
Ashes of Honor - Seanan McGuire. Continues good. Get next one.
The Calculating Stars - Mary Robinetter Kowal. Despite alt-history not being my thing, I quite enjoyed this.
10

An Ancient Peace - Tanya Huff. Fun, not deep but enjoyable. Buy more.
Beloved - Toni Morrison. Book club. Not bad for "literature". Why is Magic Realism accepted as serious literature" but fantasy isn't?
Space Opera - Catherynne (Cat) M. Valente. Meh for a very non-meh book. Definitely other people's thing, but not mine. This seems an ongoing issue for her work.
Mecanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti - Genevieve Valentine. Strange, baroque, dark, but good.
Dragon Pearl - Yoon Ha Lee. YA, not as good as Machinations of Empire, but still pretty good. Started a bit weak.

Skeen's Return - Jo Clayton. Good adventure story. Some fun 4th-wall breaking.
Skeen's Search - Jo Clayton. Enjoyable conclusion. Though, I realized part-way through I had suspension-of-disbelief issues with the reproductive biology of the major race focussed on. (Male/female pair-bonds, abour 50/50 sex mix, max 3 children per female.)
Dragon's Winter - Elizabeth A Lynn. Decent high fantasy.
Temper - Nicky Drayden. An interesting, readable, but not light fantasy, but from a very non-standard view. Interesting gender stuff.
The Black Tides of Heaven - Jy Yang. Another good, but different fantasy with interesting gender stuff.
20

Bannerless - Carrie Vaughn. Good, post-apocalypse, and interestingly-presented world and story. Also, a murder-mystery.
Point of Hopes - Melissa Scott & Lisa Barnett. Enjoyable mystery-fantasy.
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach - Kelly Robson. Another post-apocalypse (eco), but with time-travel. Good, but short.
The Poppy War - R.F. Kuang. A fantasy novel about war -- but not the usual pretty genteel war of a fantasy novel. A war with atrocities, and with people who can commit them. Good, but not easy.
Otherbound - Corrine Duyvis. Interesting, I'd read more by Corrine.

Planetfall - Emma Newman. Good. Interesting book with an, essentially, broken protaganist.
Sister Emily's Light Ship (and other stories) - Jane Yolen. Short stories, generally ok to good.
The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps - Kai Ashante Wilson. Excellent. Short, but very interesting visit to a very different world & culture.
After Atlas - Emma Newman. A sequel to Planetfall, but not a continuation - an independent and very different, but still good, novel.
Icon - Genevieve Valentine. Sequel (and continuation) to Persona and not, I feel, as strong.
30

A Taste of Honey - Kai Ashante Wilson. Nominally a sequel to The Sorceror; unrelated other than world. eforGood, but not as good.
The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe. Ugh. UUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHH. (Book club.)
Before Mars - Emma Dawn - book three of Planetfall series. Slower getting started, not as good as previous 2. Not bother with next?
Attached - Amir Levine M.D. and Rachel S.F. Heller, M.A. Non-fiction. Adult attachment in relationships - some useful stuff.
The Burning City - Alaya Dawn Johnson. Book 2 of Spiritbinders trilogy; excellent, but cliff-hanger ending. Published in 2010 (book one 2007), book 3... doesn't exist yet! ARGH!

Brother Ruined - Emma Newman. Short (novella?). Good, buy more.
Devil's Wake - Steven Barnes & Tananarive Due. Zombie apocalypse tropes played with -- not bad, but not my thing. I dislike the people-get-nasty-in-a-disaster trope. Nope, people get altruistic, band-together, and help each other, generally.
The Lilies of Dawn - Vanessa Fogg. Short - novella? Or shorter? But, enjoyable.
The Epic Crush of Genie Lo - F. C. Yee. Delightful. Look for the sequel.
Will Do Magic for Small Change - Andrea Hairston. Excellent! Black, queer, and awesome.
40

Mermaids and Other Mysteries of the Deep - Paula Guran (ed) - a surprisingly good collection for a themed collection, with many strong stories.
Mighty Good Road - Melissa Scott. Fun, light read.
Dreaming Metal - Melissa Scott. Good, bit heavier, not quite so fun.
Steerswoman - Rosemary Kirstein. Very good, put next in series on to-buy list.
Skin Folk - Nalo Hopkinson. Short stories, many very good. Some written in an English that is not my English, though.

Hidden Sun - Jaine Fenn. Good, buy more. Fallen-colony.
Jade War - Fonda Lee. Still good, though maybe not quite as good as first. Buy 3rd.
Mrs Vargas and the Dead Naturalist - Kathleen Alana. Short stories. Mexican author, mostly non-fantastic with some Magic Realism. Not really my thing, but seem well done. And interesting insights into another culture.
How Long 'Til Black Future Month? - N. K. Jemisin. Short stories. All good, many excellent, some cutting. A few are set in familiar settings, a few are in conversation with classics of the genre, and some are just their own thing.
Hwarhath Stories: Transgressive Tales by Aliens - Eleanor Arneson. Linked short stories, purportedly translated from an alien culture, with annotations. Generally good.
50

Beholder's Eye - Julie E. Czerneda. Ok, but not great. "Web Shifters #1" -- I probably won't chase down any more of them.
The Ecologic Envoy - L. E. Modesitt, JR. I think I would have enjoyed it more in the 80s, when it was written. Kinda feminist, in a back-handed misogynist way?
Too Like the Lightning - Ada Palmer. Excellent, but only 1/2 the book (or maybe trilogy?) -- pickup second volume. A look at Utopia with a lot of philosophy.
A Closed and Common Orbit - Becky Chambers. The characters and story are good - but oh the science. Perpetual motion machine android, and more.
No Time Like the Past - Jodi Taylor. Book 5. Meh+.

The Sagan Diary - John Scalzi. Short, interesting, but not at all what I've come to expect from Scalzi.
A College of Magics - Caroline Stevermer. An enjoyable stand-alone fantasy. Stand-alone is kind of nice.
AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers - Ivor W. Hartmann (ed). Very uneven. Interesting, none-the-less.
The Twenty-Side Sorceress Omnibus: Books 1-3 - Annie Bellet. Enjoyable urban fantasy.
Hexarchate Stories - Yoon Ha Lee. Some are very light, some are good, the final novella is very good. A lot more about Jedao.
60

The Consuming Fire - John Scalzi. Started slow, but turned out solid.
A Blade So Black - L.L. McKinney. YAish, but good. Playing with themes from Alice in Wonderland.
Dark Orbit - Carolyn Ives Gilman. Good, even very good. Some interesting ideas on thought, perception, and science.
Not Your Sidekcik - C. B. Lee. Fun, YAish, good. Speaks from/to a queer and immigrant experience.
A Cathedral of Myth and Bone - Kat Howard. Short stories; the weakest are good, many are excellent, some are put-down-the-book-and-sit-with-the-story-for-a-bit-before-continuing excellent. Also, lovely prose.

The Raven Tower - Anne Leckie. Good. Written in 2nd person - why? I guess I should expect something odd with pronouns.
The Ghost Bride - Yangsze Choo. Interesting and different, decent.
Mindscape - Andrea Hairston. Weird. Really weird. (Also felt long.) Hard to get into, but worth finishing.
Autonomous - Annalee Newitz. Ok. IP gone mad, plus 'bots.

Total: 69 (2018: 76)
(S?WM): 6 (2018: 14)

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Genre effects (_The Falling Woman_ by Pat Murphy)
I've just finished reading _The Falling Woman_ by Pat Murphy (reviewed by J. D. Nicoll, here: https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/catch-me-as-i-fall ) and it left me thinking about how genre affects meaning in a book/story. In his review, he says, "This is because she has a literal sixth sense. She sees the shades of the dead. ". Read as a genre novel, I agree -- but I also found myself finding the textual evidence interesting. We are given the subjective experience of a woman and her daughter seeing things, and in fact, similar things. Is this a novel of magical powers (in-genre, of course, it is) or is it a novel of mental illness and living and coping with mental illness? Should we assume (as our genre suggests) that the ghosts are real, that they women have an extra power? Why should we assume this?

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HAV -> YYZ -> YOW
And I am home again. It was...interesting.

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Tired!
2 hours of nearly-constant motion is tiring! Or, in other words, I went out roller-skating for the evening.

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