Saturday Updates

Someday we'll figure out how to make a laptop last more than 2 or 3 years. That day is not today. 

Good Saturday morning and Shabbat Shalom from our brand-spanking-new laptop, Stroock's Books people. We needed an hour to get this baby up and running and all the accounts transferred over. All for $329, American. Remarkable. 

The weather here in Northern New Jersey is cold and dreary, fitting our mood, productivity wise. We're sailing into headwinds, producing doldrums [What's with all the sailing imagery?-Ed]. We dunno. 

Speaking of dreary, the more we read about Ireland and the troubles, the drearier things get. Thatcher's War will probably be dreary.  

What else we got?

Oh look, a nice, peaceful orderly transfer of hostages in Gaza today after Bibi delayed releasing Hamas terrorists earlier in the week. It's almost like the Israelis hold the whip hand here, or something. Meanwhile Trump is 'exerting unprecedented pressure' on Lebanon's new president to keep Hezbollah out of the government.

Health update: we went all of January without a cigar.

Related, January was a great workout month with a cycle of tension training one day, cardio the next, and weights the last day; repeat as necessary. We hit the gym every day this week. We're tired, sore and fatigued. We're taking today off for sure, and maybe tomorrow. This being a new month, we're wondering if we should change our routine. We're tempted, just a little, to resume hour long four mile (3.5 really) runs. 

The Things.

On January 1st we raised book prices with [great fear and trepidation?-Ed], great fear and trepidation. Book sales dropped about 9 percent, which is actually a bit less than expected, while KU pages read increased about 12 %. Most importantly in January we made more money than December, seeing a 19% increase. Prices shall remain the same, for now. This also makes us think that the release price for a book should be higher, maybe $9.99. We'll see.

We turned in our latest short story. We'll see what the editor thinks. A huge Chiefs fan is he. Have we mentioned how cool we think the Chiefs are and how the NFL never nudges games in their direction? Go Chiefs! This is probably our last short story for a while. These have really delayed other projects. 

We have advanced the research of World War 1990: Thatcher's War a bit, but the writing not at all. There are a bewildering array of British institutions - RUC, the UVF, Special Branch, the Det, the Group, the QRF, to understand. Ideas are a big jumble at the moment. Despite everything we feel like we're on track to have the Thatcher's War rough done by 31 May. 

As for War Night, we're waiting to hear back from our man on the ground in Ireland on the Morning Rory story. After that we just need to finish writing the Acknowledgments. You people know who you are.