Tuesday Various

Good back-to-back days at the gym. 

Window installed without incident. The installers actually had to do less than they thought they had to do and knocked about 15 percent off the bill. That's gonna go right out the door though, as now comes insulation and drywall. We know a guy.

Stroock family Christmas plans are coming together. We're going to go up to our dad's house Christmas day and have a family get together on the 26th. We haven't been able to do that since 2017, as Mrs. Stroock always took the girls to Indiana to visit her (now late) father.* There may be a Christmas Day foray into NYC for an event. But that depends on Mrs. Stroock's corporate contacts coming through. 

Look who's harassing synagogue attendees in Michigan. Michigan you say? If you know anything about Michigan...Let's just say the attacker ain't Episcopalian.  And in New York City, the cops say there were 45 anti-Jewish attacks in November and 195 overall this year. Gee, wonder who's responsible for most of those? The Jerusalem Post asks if 'Antisemitism in America has reached a tipping point.' It's going to get worse, we can say that. Yesterday  we wore our ISRAEL shirt to the gym. They're not gonna scare us. 

The Israeli government's rhetoric is bellicose and the information flows freely. the IDF talks about ground combat robots and suicide drones. Israeli Radar reports on the wartime effort and cost of a conflict with Iran which is expected to engulf the region, meaning Lebanon and Syria. The IDF is requesting a ten percent budget increase for 2023. Once again, the Israelis are telling Iran/Hezbollah: Don't. Once again we ask, for all we know, what don't we know. 

What Will's watching: Gilmore Girls. But not on purpose. Middle Daughter is binging the show and loves it. She's gotten a T-shirt and several Lukes Diner mugs. We're drinking from one right now. In Gilmore Girls mother and daughter are BFFs. Plot aside, Gilmore Girls is really about talking. Quick, rapid fire and witty talking. Gilmore Girls is a non-stop gal gab fest. It's a certain kind of Gen-X girl's fantasy well executed.

We began reading The Final Storm's attack prep Chapter. Right now the chapter's a bunch of leaders talking about what needs to be done. It's...okay (uptalked there). We can't help but feel we need something between those scenes. The actual text is smooth and flows. So there's some good news there. Very good news? No. But pretty good news, no? We don't know. 

Today we will finish The New American Order's sovereignty chapter, which describes the Rockefeller Administration's efforts to regain control of ESGs or Extra Sovereign areas. These include a swamp republic in Georgia worshipping at the Church of the Alligator (we figure people would get a little weird in post nuke America), a hippie commune in Washington State (an obvious trope), several southern enclaves who insist they're the new Confederate States of America (you know that would happen), and the Black Panthers in Northern California. We are very, very pleased with what we see.

We think we might need to expand the opening chapter or prologue. Right now it's three scenes. The presidential commission, the Brits, and Matt. There's room there. But we might be over thinking. [How unusual for you-Ed]. We may not know what to throw in there till we're done reading. Overall, The New American Order is 72,000 words.

The Great Nuclear War of 1975 has hit a milestone. In less than a year it's become our all-time best KU read book. It's nowhere near our best seller in Kindle ebooks though. Our bestseller is Israel Strikes, which is nowhere near 75 in KU reads. The dynamics of digital book sales have changed since we released Israel Strikes almost ten years ago. Not bad for an idea that began life as a contribution in Seven Stories. No wonder books two and three are coming soon. 

Now, as for book ideas...Remember Tie Dye Warrior? This was once a standalone short story but is now included in Seven Stories. The idea here is to write several short stories about the life and career of the protagonist, Sean Lane. We'd see him, say, in more mud in Vietnam. He'd be in Phnom Penh when the word went out to evacuate. For that matter we could show Lane in the countryside advising Cambodian troops. Perhaps we can makeup a blockbuster battle for him. We'd show Lane post-Vietnam, maybe languishing someplace in the 1970s dejected and bored. In the 80's Lane would be working with the Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters. Interesting, eh? Would he be in Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom? Maybe. 

*The man is missing one heck of an Eagles season. A dedicated sports fan, doting father and grandfather. In some ways an example to this man.