Weekend Update: How I Spent My Sunday

Early Afternoon, Monday, November 25, 2024, Miami, Florida

Hi, there, Constant Readers.

Yesterday was a tranquil Sunday in South Florida. As my television and Blu-ray player were not yet set up, I was unable to watch my extensive physical movie collection. Although I have 72 titles on Movies Anywhere, including Star Wars, Casablanca, and Jurassic Park, streaming them on my computer is not particularly enjoyable. Occasionally, I stream movies to fulfill my desire to watch something; however, sitting at my desk for films such as Apollo 13 or The Shining is not appealing. Consequently, I did not watch any movies yesterday.

Instead, I devoted some time to playing computer games. Initially, I participated in a single skirmish on Regiments and successfully defeated the Red force in an unfamiliar scenario. Given that I had not played Regiments much since returning to Miami late last month, I was pleasantly surprised by my performance in the Ettenhausen scenario. It took nearly the entire allotted half-hour to secure victory, but I managed to inflict more casualties on the Warsaw Pact than they did on me, and I captured all eight objective zones—during a night battle, no less.

I also revisited the Dong Hoi scenario in Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age. With mixed results, I played the new naval simulation from Triassic Games and MicroProse twice. On my first attempt, I lost USS Higbee—a Gearing-class destroyer—when a North Vietnamese MiG-17 scored two bomb hits on her. That, my friends, was not fun; the bomb strikes caused severe fires and flooding, leading to Higbee sinking in the Gulf of Tonkin.

On my second try, I fared better. I shot down the MiGs before they could drop their ordnance on any of my ships this time. I also managed to sink four Soviet-made P6 torpedo boats and destroy all of the North Vietnamese shore facilities assigned to my small task force.

I also read a chapter from Rick Atkinson’s The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777, the first volume of his Revolution Trilogy. I’d started reading this book when I lived on the Gulf Coast a few years ago, but I never finished it before I moved to New Hampshire last December. I didn’t remember where I left off because I forgot to put a bookmark, so I started reading from the beginning. The next book in the trilogy is due out in April and I have it on pre-order on Amazon, so I guess the time is right for a complete re-reading experience.

It’s a bit past my usual break time, and I need to go so I can rest before I resume working on my novel, Reunion; Coda. Until next time, take care and keep reading.