Chris Brooks

Been a while since I visited here. Maybe 21 years? Dry but still beautiful.

Julie and I were at West Point last weekend to join Matthew for Ring Weekend – where the class of 2019 gets their class rings.

Did you know the concept of class rings started at West Point?

Matthew and I ran in the Ring Run 5k on Saturday morning with about 500 cadets and family members. We took first place for father/cadet team!

What I’m Contemplating

• The 4 questions you should stop asking during your one-on-one meetings – I like this list! I was always looking for ways to improve my one-on-ones and take things off script.
• Oral history of David Bote’s epic walk-off grand slam – My Cubs are having another solid season, with the best record in the NL right now and an inside track to the playoffs. Still, it doesn’t feel like they are doing that well and I’m not sure why. Maybe Kris Bryant’s absence? Some struggles with starting pitching? Anyhow, this Bote kid has had a big start to his major league career.
• Panic Attacks – Love that events like this are being discussed more openly, hopefully without attached stigma.
• Baku bits, what to see in Baku – Color me interested. To me Baku has always been “an objective though shalt seek in an east front WWII war game.” Now I want to visit.
• Oregon senators, political leaders honor McCain’s life, legacy – McCain wasn’t perfect (who is?), but I admire that he spent his life seeking truth and was willing to adjust his views with new information. He also had a small dose of courage.
• Duty Honor Country – I didn’t know that Fred Wilson grew up on West Point, where my younger son is currently in his senior (first class) year. These are appropriate comments on John McCain, but I couldn’t help but reflect on MacArthur’s duty, honor, country speech he gave at West Point in 1962. I’m surprised that MacArthur is still revered at West Point – there’s a prominent statue and of course his famous speech worked its way into the ideals held by this fine institution. It doesn’t take a lot of research into his actions from the start of WWII until his sacking by Truman 1951 to see how much of a threat he was to our democracy, and how he set exactly the wrong precedent for future military leaders. Do your own homework, but for starters he (1) attempted to undermine civilian leadership of the military on multiple occasions, (2) intentionally suppressed intelligence for the sole purpose of supporting his own poor conclusions, and (3) failed to own his own mistakes and instead tried to cast off blame to his subordinates and politicians.

What I’m Reading

• I finished reading Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World–and Why Things Are Better Than You Think. As I said in my last update, worth a read.
• I finally opened up Your Money or Your Life but didn’t finish it. Too basic for me, but likely a good gateway to personal finance and financial independence for young folks and newbies.
• More Ranger’s Apprentice. 😀

What I’m Playing

• Not much – just Ninety-Nine with Julie and Jerry.

Where I’m Hiking

• We finally hiked Grimes Glen in Naples after a big rainful and it was easy and spectacular.
• Tannery Creek Falls – Tannery Creek was even better than Grimes. See photo at the top of this post.

What I’m Listening To

• Dee White, ‘Southern Gentleman’ – The album isn’t out yet (slated for early 2019 release) but I enjoyed what NPR shared and will look out for the full release.
• It was the Byrds album everyone hated in 1968. Now, ‘Sweetheart of the Rodeo’ is a classic. – I’m old enough to have immersed myself in this album maybe 15 years ago, but young enough that I had no clue how soundly this album was rejected when it was released. This is a direct ancestor for some of my all-time favorite groups (Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, Jayhawks, Son Volt).
• And in the same year Sweetheart came out, this group of musicians gathered near Woodstick to make Music from Big Pink. Enjoyable (if rambling) interview with Robbie Robertson.

I’m very impressed with the spirits coming from Krooked Tusker – mostly clear but their unaged whiskeys are not bad. I’m here with Mom and Julie now, bought supplies for “old fashioned mules”. Recipe to come.

What I’m Contemplating

• No single birthplace of mankind, say scientists – Sounds like we still have a lot to learn and uncover around the origin of our species.
• Remote versus Co-located Work – Martin Fowler gives a good breakdown of the continuum of working modes for organizations.
• Lennon or McCartney? Can statistical analysis solve an authorship puzzle? – Light summary of the work, would be fun to read the original article / research but I can’t find anything yet.
• How To Have A Happy Marriage: 7 Powerful Secrets From Research – Julie and I subscribe to Eric’s newsletter. Several good tips here. Actions for me: “delighting in your partner’s good news” and “try some self-disclosure. Open up.”

What I’m Cooking

• Smoked BBQ Brisket – I’ve become pretty adept at slow cooking and smoking dry-rub ribs, but hadn’t tried brisket before. Did two different 5 lb briskets this summer and both turned out great. Lessons learned: takes longer than you think at 220 – 250 deg F, get internal temperature way up there to about 190, and crank the heat up a bit at the end to get some nice burnt ends.

What I’m Listening To

• First Listen: Graham Nash, ‘Over The Years…’ – Meh, some “lost” demos that didn’t appeal to me.

What I’m Reading

• I’m halfway through Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World–and Why Things Are Better Than You and almost cannot put it down. I see why Bill Gates gave this as a gift to the entire graduating college class of 2018.
• I quickly read through The Language of the Game: How to Understand Soccer while watching the final rounds of the World Cup. Pretty good book but mainly for soccer fins; certainly didn’t convert me.
• I’m working my way through the Ranger’s Apprentice series and still enjoy it as summer escape reading.

What I’m Playing

• I’m in the middle of two play-by-email games of Holland ’44. This is moving up my all-time top wargames list; easily in my top 5 right now. Here’s a good review over at The Player’s Aid.
• Plenty of party and family games played in the last few weeks: Dixit, Werewolf and Guesstures.
• I continue to play Fort Sumter: The Secession Crisis (second play, third play, fourth play). Mark Herman wrote a strategy guide for the final crisis. Here’s another review of Fort Sumter from Player Elimination.
• Want to play a trick taking game with just three players? Our favorite is Ninety-Nine, played it twice in the past two weeks.
• Jacob brought the tiny worker placement game Mint Works, played it twice.
• Greg and I played a 2 player game of 18NEB, ostensibly a speed game given he had an early afternoon flight. His flight was canceled and was able to stay an extra night, so we were able to play out the game. This is a solid entry level 18xx game and I’m glad this is one that I kept.
• The big “big game” hit this summer has been High Frontier. Jacob and I played the basic game while he was here, then Matthew and I did the same with a follow-on game with the expanded rules. We are playing the 2nd edition game and rules.
• On Matthew’s last full day here, we played the magazine game Jena 20. Matthew smoked me – I was too aggressive as Napoleon at the start of the game.
• I’m eagerly awaiting the delivery of [the ASL historical expansion Hatten in Flames which arrived at our home in Oregon. There’s a nice overview site of the subject matter of Hatten in 1945.