Will's New Wheels

Happy new year on a cloudy, cold and bleak January morning. The Yankee winter has arrived in earnest. The Stroocklettes go back to school this morning and they're not happy about it, not happy at all. 

We bought a (badly needed) new car yesterday, a 2024 Honda Odyssey. When they wanted 20 percent above MSRP, we started getting out of our chair. We didn't pay 20 percent above MSRP, not hardly, not even close. We did just fine. In the end we paid a lot less then we had mentally thought we must need pay for a new minivan. They also took our old minivan as trade in, the fools. That's one big to do crossed off the 2024 list. 

The Odyssey has a lot of high tech bells and whistles which we're not necessarily 100 percent pleased about.  The girls are thrilled. We've dubbed the new minivan the Mobile Command Unit, or Mom-6, or simply Mom's Car. 

We've got a strain or rip or tear or something in our shoulder/triceps area. We're hoping rest does the trick. This is fine. We needed to rest at least a few days anyway and reconsider our workout regimen. More cardio? Less cardio? Back to weights? We don't know. 

The Israelis have sent five brigades home from Gaza. They've also ordered long term deployments to the Lebanese and Syrian borders. The Israelis have conducted six air strikes in Syria in the last week.  Hostage negotiations with Hamas continue apace.  With the Houthi menace remaining in the Red Sea and the Hezbollah situation in Lebanon still unresolved, the war is entering its interesting phase, is it not?

Meanwhile via Scot Adams on Twitter: 'JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Only 15% of Israelis want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stay in office after the war on Hamas in Gaza ends, though many more still support his strategy of crushing the militants in the Palestinian enclave...' People want Bibi to win the war and then go away. There's no coming back from numbers like that. Exit question, will Bibi prolong the war to stay in office?

Okay, we read through the Battle of Bardufoss chapter in which the Marines attack a Soviet VDV battalion. Looked fine, but could have used a few more scenes, maybe. Overall we're pleased. We can read the final chapter this afternoon. We really like our VDV characters, Colonel Timonen and General Alexandre Lebed. 

Sales of World War 1990: The Final Storm are steady but have yet to pop. We're also stuck on 5 ratings. 

With World War 1990: The Final Storm off the list, and the read through of World War 1990: Norway almost complete, we'll be able to get back to work on War Night. This week we'll finish the single mom story and maybe one other. Or maybe we'll start another story. We are not prepared to write our two dedicated military stories. These are a missile silo crew, and an arty battalion at Fulda. Alright, we've got some ju-ju this morning. 

Will's Good idea for the Week of 1/1/24 (supplemental): We had totally forgotten about our space war idea. A novel about space dreadnaughts and star carriers flying through space recreating Jutland and Leyte Gulf and what not. World War II in space. Basically, Wing Commander.  The twist is this novel is so far in the future they don't even know where mankind originated.  [Like the year 10191?-Ed] Maybe, but less weird. Could be fun. This might bring in a lot of new readers. We'll be writing about this idea all week.