2006: the third day

Well, well, well. Guess what showed up this morning [Your period?-Ed]. Very funny Ed, you newt. No. We got gout. It's minor, so far, but nevertheless. [Nevertheless what? And what do you mean by newt?-Ed] Just nevertheless, and think about it. Newt...King Knutson or Knut...start playing around with the letters, babe.

The Israelis held their political primaries last night. The Jerusalem Post reports that Israeli politics remain deadlocked. The great Hugh Hewitt interviewed an Israeli journalist on the upcoming election. We learned a lot, and recommend reader(s) click on over. Personally, if we had a vote, we'd be persuadable, meaning we're up for grabs. 

On the one hand Bibi's done well and seeing him back in office would piss off all the right people. On the other hand the nation needs new leadership and a Haredi draft law. Only Gadi Eisenkot can deliver that. On the gripping hand neither bloc has a majority. Our guess is that were Eisenkot to beat Bibi head to head, President Herzog would give him first crack at forming a government and he could peel off a few Likud members. Who knows? We shrug and drink our coffee. 

Exit question: is it possible that Israeli polls are as broken as American polls?

In the wake of serial plagiarizer and fabulist Jasan Arday's suicide, many in the Yookay are calling for press regulation, censorship and 'Jason's law'. Quite right. The media is the enemy of the people. The media needs federal regulators, federal content editors, and a five day waiting period before filing a story. And ban anonymous sources. Reminder, fellow MAGA hats, there is no reason for the right to defend the media, even in this case. No reason whatsoever. Know your class enemies.* 

2006...Huh we weighed more then than we do now. This was the summer we began putting on weight. Eating a dozen perogies for lunch and chasing them with half a bag of Doritos will do that. We noticed that September on our first substitute teaching gig. We buttoned a nice pair of khaki pleats we wore the previous spring. Uh oh, we thought. We'd hang on to that weight for more than a decade.  By the time of our heart thing in 2015 we were pushing 270. 

This was also the summer we were really into the fall of the Philippines in 1942. We'd outlined a story about an teacher [Big surprise-Ed] with a legit 4F who lies his way into the army and ends up being in the Corregidor airborne assault (Rock Force) in 1945. Huh again. Maybe that's our stand-alone novel idea. 

Otherwise we were kinda bored and just waiting for the school year to begin. 

DOGE report. 

We did some work on the Soviet sub short story. Things were going fine and then we got stuck. We dunno. 

The World War 1990: Thatcher's War readthrough continues apace. We are nearing the, 'It is What it is, inshallah,' phase. [Meaning?-Ed] This is it. This is the novel. 

*If we saw, say, an ABC or NYTs reporter drowning, while we would throw [insert pronoun] a rescue buoy, we wouldn't jump in the water to help. We're not getting wet for those bastards. Enemy of the people. 

2006: the second day

Baaaaah! We swipe the air and drink our coffee. That late summer humidity has settled in here, bringing with it morning overcast, fog, and general dankness. While one has a few summer things left, this morning one finds oneself looking forward to the pastoral splendor of Yankee autumn. 

Envy us, Johnny Rebs. 

Three days in a row at the gym. We've done all of our exercise routines but have not yet decided how to reorganize and reorder them. After looking at summer beach pics though, we're cutting out crunches, leg lifts and the like. What's the point? They ain't gettin' results. 

2006...What was in the news? The Israelis were fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon and blew it. The Iraq War was raging. Little did we know the tide was already turning. That June the US killed AQI head Abu Zarqawi. Anbar Awakening had formed. The Dems were getting ready to romp in the midterms. History rhymes, they say. 

We'd finished A Line Through the Desert and were about to have a bunch of military history magazine articles in print. We decided to submit short stories to sci-fi and fantasy magazines and began doing so in the summer of 2006. We never even came close.** It was for the best. We'd written a very Mary Sue sword and sorcery short story and we're glad it's never seen the light of day. We dodged a bullet there, or a dagger anyway.

DOGE report.

We read through a couple of chapters of World War 1990: Thatcher's War. We're getting bored. Which means we're getting to where we need to get.

We did some research and scut work on the Irish Army Ranger Wing raid on Heath House. Soon?*

We read through the DEW Line story. Still not sure where things are going. 

We are plugging along on the Soviet sub story. This one will be interesting as it's the first time we've bounced between POVs in this universe. 

*This should not be as epic as the SAS raid on Moscow, but something more than the Norwegian army's raid on the Soviet held airstrip. 

**We have five short stories in print now [Show off-Ed]. 

2006: the first day

Good morning, Stroock's Books people. It's a brand-new week. 

A second day in a row at the gym. While it feels good to be back, we're thinking it's time to modify our workout routine. We don't know how though and are experimenting with combinations. 

Pro tip: don't complain when random packages of stuff the womenfolk ordered from Amazon or Walmart arrive. More packages will arrive today, as is their wont, and most certainly tomorrow. It's a biblical deluge of carboard and packing materials. The wise man just smiles and says, 'Yes dear'.

We've stopped reading the Israeli press. It's a hodgepodge of new sites presenting an incoherent jumble of stories. Half of the articles are analyses masquerading as news. Whatever. We're sick of thinking about it and are content to enjoy the rubble.

Related...more Juden Hass from the right. The bulk of the Juden Hass we get on Substack comes from that direction these days. They're just pissed that the latest man mom brought home from the bar was a Jew. Still, other than humor and yo-mama jokes, we really don't know what to do about the rising Juden Hass. We'll Jew harder, we guess. 

2006...this time 20 years ago we were waiting out the summer. 

We were looking forward to getting back to subbing at Bernards High School. Fall '06 would be a our last good semester there after a great two years. Beginning in January '07, well, we'd be Mister Mom.

We were meeting with a contractor to discuss finishing the back basement room at the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction. Living space expansion was necessary as the combined family had two kids and two more on the way. Mrs. Stroock was pregnant as was our stupid sister. 

When we returned home, we stopped directly at Barnes & Noble to pick up the latest copy Strategy & Tactics Magazine, which had our long treatment of the Duke of Marlborough on the cover. This was the beginning of a great run of magazine articles that would last years.

A Line Through the Desert was done and we don't remember what we were writing. We must have been working on a magazine article. Up Front at Zama is our best bet.

We were just good enough at guitar to play some chord progressions and leads. 

Our hair was approaching shoulder length. We'd cut it three days after Oldest Daughter was born. A mistake. We should have stuck with it till spring. We're too old for that crap now. Oh well.

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 8/16/26

Good Sunday morn to all Christians, except the C of E. Losers. Reminder, Britain is finished. 

Moving on [Please-Ed].

Blog traffic is way up. We've no idea why. As usual, Blogger stats tell us absolutely nothing we want to know about where the traffic is from, who's linking to Stroock's Books, etc, etc. The traffic is mostly bots and spam, we think. 

Yesterday we mowed the lawn. Got to the gym, which felt good. The scale says we're back down to 243 pounds or 17.3 stone. We won't convert that into Canadian, moose eating bastards. 

One of our critics has packed it in. Should we slam that critic? We think we should. But not today. [Why?-Ed] Why not? [Did not your late friend Kathy Shaidle* warn how draining and pointless internet flame wars ultimately are? -Ed] She did, Ed. She did. Still...[Still what?-Ed] We are loath to get down in the muck with the pigs. We get dirty and the pigs like it. But sometimes family business must needs be settled. We've done it before. [That was a good piece-Ed] So was this. We don't even remember who that guy was anymore. And sometimes it's personal. 

We find ourselves thinking of the past as is our lot [You do that too much -Ed], milestones, anniversaries and the like. Usually 20 years, not 25 is what matters to us. It's 2006 week all week here at Stroock's Books. Enjoy. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 8/16/26...

We had no breakthroughs on any future projects...we need to update that page, don't we? Remember, we're thinking of one standalone book, probably on a new platform. 

No breakthrough on To Liberate Mars. 

We do find our selves thinking about World War 1990: Ireland and the 5th nuke novel a lot. 

If we were to start a third universe, what would it be? 

*What's Warren Kinsella doing these days?

Saturday Updates

Ah, it's good to be back, as Tony Stark once said. 

A long trip yesterday with some traffic backup and a whining cat. Good times. Nevertheless, we are home where everything is just as we left it. 

The lawn needs mowing.

We needed a gym break, we got a gym break. The body feels tan, rested and ready. We'll think about possible new regimens today. 

What a trip, though. Two weeks at the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction in the Berkshires. We can't recall a better long-term stay. We come away pleased with the endeavor. And we'll be back Labor Day. 

And so begins the final phase of the Stroock summer. 

Our man in Norway sent us some very tasty Norwegian chocolate.

Otherwise there's not much to report. 

Let's move on to the things, shall we? 

The Things.

Okay, we really fixed up a lot of World War 1990: Thatcher's War. We read through half the book. More work remains. In fact the read through was so successful, we're going to do another read through this week. 

Also, we've figured out where Mr. Adams is staying during the war and how 14 Intel-the Group figures that out. The Irish Ranger Wing will strike once again. 

World War 1990: Thatcher's War is 72,000 words. 

We began another nuke story. Soviet sub, damaged by Coast Guard cutter, sends crew ashore to retrieve needed medical supplies, etc. Runs into angry and armed towns people. Reader(s) will get the drift. 

Finishing this story and the DEW Line story will get us close to 60,000 words. One more story, no? If you've ideas, let's hear them. 

The 5th nuke novel is 46,000 words. 

The Last Morning of the Second Week

Another fine morning to you all. Today the Stroock family will be returning home after a most successful two weeks amidst the Berkshire's pastoral splendor. 

Some HR lady/middle school vice principal type* here on the lake is circulating a letter protesting the 'excessive noise' from the Israeli summer camp. Lol, lighten up, lady. These kids spent large parts of the last three years hiding in safe rooms and bomb shelters. In other words, get fucked. 

Related...The great Steve Sailer asks, Are Jews an Ethnicity? Our answer to that question is, we don't know. Our 23&Me tells us we're 48.6 percent Ashkenazi Jew. Thanks, dad. We're actually darker complexioned than we look at first glance. But we've blue eyes and blond hair. Thanks, mom. Put us in a lineup with Jerry Seinfeld and Ben Shapiro and we'd stand out. Jews are of course a desert people. Even now, as we write this we feel the allure, the pull of the Holy Land.

We don't pay much attention to British politics these days. There's no point. The country is finished. But Nigel Farage (whom we're not even sure we support anymore, the wanker) was being investigated for some trumped up corruption charged, resigned his seat in parliament, ran for reelection - and romped. If one believes the charges against Farage, great. We've got some Arkansas real-estate opportunities you're going to love. 

DOGE Report. A kind of herky-jerky day where we never felt comfortable but never-the-less got a few things accomplished. 

FB tells us we posted this fifteen years ago today, 'Tentative story list: surfer dude in Vietnam, a German nat in the IDF, a defense of a Pacific island in 1941, a disgruntled Brit Merc in Africa (think Wild Geese), something Jake Bloom- I have no idea what, some Americans in the Philippine Insurgency C. 1902 and a sequel to To Defend the Earth called To Attack Mars.'

So that's what we were thinking about back then. Bear in mind we had two novels in print, A Line through the Desert and To Defend the Earth. Israel Strikes was but a gleam in our eye. 

We're off to pack and clean up. Wish us luck. We'll report from home tomorrow. Update...we have an old fashioned clothes washer here. You just dial to the setting you want, and that's what the machine does; 40-50 minutes. Our fancy hi-tech close washer at home seemingly ignores the settings we select and takes 60-90 minutes to do a load of wash. Smash the machines. 

*We looked up the author. Everything about her says, 'I'm a WNBA exec and I don't know what a woman is.'

Thursday: the Second Week

A very foggy good morning to everyone. The lake is covered by fog...oh, now it's lifting.

Another full day here at Lake Buel. Youngest Daughter has taken a liking to fishing and caught at least a dozen blue gills yesterday. Of course it's up to dad to unhook 'em. We boated. We kayaked while Middle Daughter paddle boarded. The Stroock family enjoyed its evening boat cruise. 

Hot Air reports on the Wisconsin primary vote tally fiasco. Subhead: in which NBC's Steve Karnacki realizes Trump was right about 2020. We love this story. God help us we do love it so.   Reminder: believing the 2020 election was fair is the conspiracy theory. Here we are at the Bedminster Stop the Steal* rally the Saturday after the 2020 election. We stand by every word. Trump won.

DOGE report.

We are struggling on. We've read through everything till the invasion of Ireland. That's half the novel. That half looks like what it's going to look like. It still feels a bit jumbled though. 

We had an idea for another 5th nuke novel story. A US navy destroyer sails into San Fransico Bay, and it's a nightmare. 

The other night we dreamt we were writing a story about a space cruiser skipper, that is a CA in space. And we liked it. 

Related...no real ju-ju for To Liberate Mars. 

We had an idea about a sword and sorcery novel. It's mostly just LOTR**, which alert reader(s) will have noticed has been on the telly a lot lately. Three siblings. Two princes have opposing personalities. A young princess is confined to doing princess things, as the Queen is long dead and she fills that role. The young princess has spent her life reading the great histories. In the continent-wide war that follows, she comes to advise her father, the King [Not bad-Ed.] I know, right? 

*Note how we sneak it we're an author. We come off as poised, reasonable, charismatic and handsome [Ew-Ed].

**Fun fact. We only tried reading The Lord of the Rings in the mid-2000s and we didn't like it. We didn't like it at all. Our inspiration would be Dennis L McKiernan's Mithgar - which is a LOTR knock off.