tigertoy

Hope it's a good day for birder2 and all other moms out there.

Just a quick note that I've made it safely home from FCN, as far as my mom's place at least. The con was fun. I'm tired. I might manage to say something more substantial but not right now.

I played vamps again in FNM. I went 3-1, but with the loss in the first round my tiebreaks were awful and I finished 5th out of 16.

( deck and details )

I didn't play any magic after last FNM, during my carless week, so I had the same deck as I did last week. I did rather poorly.

( details )

I've pretty much given up on reviewing the books that I read, but now and again I'll come across something I have to talk about.

Such a book is The Silvered by Tanya Huff.

I won't claim to be objective. First, in addition to being one of my favorite writers, Tanya is a friend. (I can't really claim she's a close friend, but only because she lives way off in Canada and I get to talk to her for a few minutes about once a year. But I look forward to those minutes.) Second, this is a book about werewolves, and I'm a sucker for werewolves. So I guess all I can say is I really enjoyed reading this. It was painful to read in places, because it is entirely too believable about some of of the failings of humans. It was more painful to read because it's not real and I have to leave that world and come back to the world where my car self destructed. A magic system that seems to be internally consistent, without being explained to death, with a couple of bits that I can't get behind, but I'm willing to let them go. A rich world that seems plenty big enough to hold more stories, even though this particular story is pretty complete. A book you should definitely run out and buy, because if you don't enjoy it your taste in books is too different for us to talk, and even if you don't, Tanya needs to pay for her house repairs so she can come to cons more often so I can spend a few more minutes in her wonderful company.

10 out of 10.

I got the keys to the mechanic early this morning. Late this morning, I got the news -- the clutch and slave cylinder have to be replaced, the rest of the transmission is hopefully fixable. For quite a painful amount of money, but not quite enough to give up on the car. So I'll get the car back tomorrow or Thursday.

I just hope that I'm right in thinking that the car is basically sound and it will last a couple more years.

I went up to Mt. Prospect for the housefilk at chaoticgoodchic's house last night. The trip up was completely uneventful, the dinner was nice, the music and companionship were good. I got back in my car at 1:00, figuring I'd make it to bed about 4, I'd be tired but it should be OK. It rained off and on as I was driving home, but had no problems, until I got to the interchange between I-57 and I-74. I can't remember exactly what happened. The car suddenly started making a disturbing noise, but I can't remember if it was before I touched the gearshift to slow down for the ramp or not. But on the ramp, the car made "pull over right now" noises, and it was in neutral. The engine was still running but not delivering power. I got onto the shoulder and tried to force the car into first. It didn't want to go, and then it popped right out again. Clearly something is very wrong with the transmission. And it's 3:30 AM Sunday, and I'm a little too tired to think completely clearly.

After a few minutes, I pulled myself together enough to look on the net on my phone, find a tow truck, and have it sent out. Then I texted a friend who is often up at that hour. I had the car towed to the mechanic, my friend gave me a ride to my mom's (thanks Jeremy!), and I spent the night there.

Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting installment of Phil's Car Explodes, Now What?, when I hopefully find out what is wrong with the car, and whether it will take a few hundred dollars and a couple of hours to fix, or thousands of dollars and weeks (in which case, I will have to somehow find another car).

Dear President Obama,

In the aftermath of your reelection, all of the talk is turning to the so-called fiscal cliff, and almost all politicians are saying we need to reach a compromise. Please, as you again try to get the Republican house to be slightly reasonable, keep the important things in mind. Our fiscal problems are not primarily that government is too big and doing things it should be doing; they are primarily caused because we're not collecting enough taxes to pay for them. The money has to come from the people who have it, and we are in the hole we're in now because the Republicans somehow mesmerized the rest of Congress into accepting the idea that the rich shouldn't pay taxes. We can't fix the budget without ending the favorable treatment of dividends and capital gains. Additionally, much of the social division tearing our country apart is caused by growing inequality of wealth, which flows directly from the fact that people with less money pay higher tax rates than people with more money.

Yes, talk to the Republicans. Keep trying to bring them to a sane compromise. But don't agree to anything that taxes divdends and capital gains -- also known as rich people's money -- significantly less than wages. Going over the fiscal cliff now may make things a little tougher for a couple of years, but making the tax holiday for the rich permanent will make sure that things continue getting worse for ordinary people forever.

Three weeks back, when I won FNM, I got two Pack Rats in my prize packs, so I actually played a rat deck two weeks back. It did very poorly, and I don't think I'll be visiting it again. Maybe there is something good to do with Pack Rat, but the obvious standard deck -- 4 of each of the rats for the creatures, plus some discard effects, splashing green for Rancor -- just doesn't cut it. One week back, I was at OVFF, so I missed FNM and Game Day. I was back for FNM yesterday, with the four color deck I played few weeks ago, with a few tweaks.

( Went 4-1, seemed pretty darn good. )

Between the two events, I played 8 matches, and I lost the roll to go first every single time. Feels pretty normal to me.

The annual Pet Fair Extravaganza is next weekend at Prairieland Feeds in Savoy. EFRC will have a booth there and we'll have a cat, I assume a tiger, although as of today the keepers don't know which one. I told Jean I'd be there to help Saturday. So come out and say hi, next weekend, Oct. 6-7, 10 AM-5 PM, and buy a calendar or a T shirt or something else nifty. (I will only be there Saturday, but Jean and the tiger will be there Sunday.) And buy dog food at probably the best price of the year.