Hellraiser97

Finished Service Model week before last. It was good. Enjoyed it more than Cage of Souls for sure. That said, I'm not reading another one of his books for a while. Didn't realize I'd missed an Expeditionary Force novel last year, Aftermath, so fire that up and finished it yesterday. Lots of good laughs but overall the story was meh. Really I'm surprised they continued the series. It was pretty wrapped up I felt at the book before that. Not sure what I'm going to listen to next. Don't want to just plow through the next Expeditionary Force novel. Agreed. Finale was very satisfying and the epilogue was fantastic.

Criminally stupid cirlce jerk is the perfect description of A&M

So finished Cage of Souls and yeah, it was something. Again, excellent writing and world building, but a bit depressing. Not sure why I'm doing this to myself (probably because I had it in my Audible accout) but I'm reading another one of his books, Service Model. It's interesting for sure. Like Cage of Souls, not sure exactly where he's going with it and I'm 2/3 through. Next up, I'm hitting the latest Expeditionary Force book. I also got this recommendation from Audible - Ilium by Dan Simmons. It's about the Trojan War more or less it seems. Any of you recommend it? I liked the Hyperion series as I said above.

I'm a little pissed at aggy. Several of my friends that went there have already simply resigned themselves to the fact that we're going to win and that their school will always be second tier. They're non-stop lamenting the blown opportunity of the past 11 years. How the fuck am I supposed to enjoy taunting them with an attitude like that?!?

The two series I've read of Tchaikovsky's are Shards of Earth which I really liked and it's not sad/depressing and Children of Time which some may not find sad/depressing, but it's certainly not upbeat either. Both are high quality writing for sure. I read that about a decade ago when I went on a spree reading classic Sci-Fi. Could be really interesting as a movie for sure. I never read the sequels, but I heard they were not that great.

I finished the latest Undying Mercenaries book, Throne World. It was nothing original and seemed kind of short compared to the others, but still a fun read. I also finished Books 3 & 4 of the Bobiverse series. REally enjoyed those and where he's going with the series. Looks like there's a Book 5 that just came out. Right now, I'm listening to Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky, I'm on chapter 9 and so far, I'm not sold on it. The writing is excellent, but outside of it taking place in the distant future, doesn't really feel like Sci-Fi so far.

Yeah, there are plenty of other reasons we're a bunch of idiots!

It already has in many ways. I'm enjoying our seasons to be sure, but I was shocked at the start of the season to find out our top FOUR receivers are all transfers that came in after last season.

Just finished the last book. Yeah, it got a little wierd! I think what really annoyed me was there was SO much detail that frankly felt unnecessary. Overall enjoyed the series though.

I saw the movie with David Bowie a few years ago. Didn't realize it was a novel. Adding it to the list!

I have PreCheck. I realized after I posted that about the loyalty points. Good news though, I have one property still going on (and may do them as one off, side work in the future) and I can easily charge $70k as we finish that build. That would get me Platinum status and then with the amount I'll fly, maybe I can maintain it. Yeah, here's a short run down - 2015 moved from NYC to Austin, started business, 2016-2017 hit problems with banks, 2017-2019 worked through them, 2019 told wife things were good now, 2 days later she files for divorce, 12 months of divorce (including finding out all sorts of bad stuffI was oblivious to), business hits trouble due to divorce, as divorce wrapping up, try to scale business back up, but literraly come to agreement on divorce first week of COVID, made it through a couple years more, but the speed we could move, largely due to COVID crap, started killing us and tying up capital, 2022 rates spike, and business starts declining, through if we got through 2023 we could turn it around, decided at the beginning of the year that no, it was time to wind it down, been job searching since, can't find job in Austin for what I am best qualified to do (and can't get jobs that I'm reasonably qualified to do either), so now I'm looking at travelling, but at least I won't be broke. Started dating girlfriend about 2.5 years ago after doing the requisit dating crazy after crazy. Thanks for the link! Didn't know about that.

Thanks. I don't have status on AA right now. I think one of the credit cards you can get with a high fee gives you some type of status, so I'll check into that before I start flying.

My plan is possibly to leave my truck at long term parking (not sure how much that is these days) or even at the office and take an uber there. I won't be traveling with anything more than a backpack, so I'm not lugging anything around. I don't think the bus is an option on Wednesdays, but for Sundays going up, that's 4 hours and 15 minutes I can be doing something. I've only flown between AUS and DFW a handful of times, but my experience flying has been that it's not much faster overall when you factor in security, getting to the flight before take off, getting on the flight, flight time, taxing, getting off the plane, exiting the terminal, and the only real time do do anything is most, but not all, of that 50 minutes in the air. I appreciate the input, but I think at least for Sunday, it's somewhat feasible (and a lot cheaper than flying)

RedCoach drops off at DFW airport. Coppell

I used to ride the light rail every day to work about 20 years ago. I see the quality and speed has not improved! Really, anything to do with LUV would be in a situation where I just can't make anything else work for that specific trip. So it would suck for sure, but it would be a last resort.

In Austin, I'm working from home. My kids are in Austin and short of a massively expensive court fight, which I may not win, my proposed schedule of Weds/Thurs and every other Fri-Sun time with them requires me to be in Austin (my ex is amicable to reorganizing from our current week on week off). I'm not willing to reduce my custody to less than 50% nor make them travel. My dad and I are fine. He's an ornery old bastard, but frankly I'll barely see him. I'll get in late Sundays, work all day Mon-Tues, go to the gym after work, get home, go to sleep, and wednesday work all day then head back to Austin. Also, my girlfriend lives in San Marcos, so as long as that continues, even my off weekends with the kids I'd be coming back.

Yeah, I've been checking that out. Probably do a test run in the next week or two.

The office is literally 5 minutes north of DFW airport. I live in South Austin.

No mileage reimbursement, this is going to be solely on me. I'm not a fan of all that goes into getting to the flight, but like I said, I'd rather not drive. I'll probably end up driving it at least once a month for various reason, but I'd like to keep it to a minimum. Appreciate all the responses!

I have driven that drive more times than I can count! I generally don't mind it, but doing it 8 times a month I think would start to suck real quick. Especially if I can sit on a bus and watch video, play games, read or sleep.

yeah the go Dallas downtown, Richardson, then DFW. Doesn't make a difference. The place I'd be working is 5 min north of DFW and I'm going to be staying with my Dad that is another 20 minutes NW of that. I looked at getting off downtown and taking the light rail over to to DFW, but it would actually take longer. That is looking the most likely scenario. There are some Sundays I wouldn't be able to make the RedCoach bus and I'd either need to to Vonlane or fly.

It's looking so that I may be spending about 3 days a week ( leave Sun nigjht - return Weds night) in Dallas and 4 days (Thurs - Sun)a week in Austin for the foreseeable future. So, I'm exploring how to make this travel in the most cost and time effecient way possible. So far, here's what I've found: Driving - doable, but I'll have a vehicle in Dallas, so I don't need to bring or rent one. Really don't want to spend 6-7 hours a week driving back and forth though for both the wear and tear on my car and my mind. Trains - Funk that. Wish it was an option but I've heard nothing but horror stories about Amtrak in this part of the country. Buses - I've checked out 2 options - RedCoach and Vonlane. RedCoach is definitely the cheaper option, both claim to have business class style seats and lots of amenities. RedCoach drops off both in downtown Dallas and DFW. DFW is closer to where I need to be, so that's a plus. Going up on Sunday nights, RedCoach is definitely an option, but the last bus leaves on Wednesday before I'll be available to leave, to it's not an option for coming home. Vonlane stops at Love Field, not ideal, but there's a light rail between LUV and DFW, so it's do able. A lot more options on Vonlane, but also a lot more expensive. Flights - AA has flights on the hour practically every hour between AUS and DFW while SWA has similar to LUV. I see nothing but horror stories at AUS concerning security lately. DFW and LUV, not so much. It seems if I book far enough out, I can get flights for about $100 or so each way. I have Clear and TSA-Precheck, so maybe that will help some with AUS. Parking - I'll have to determine if it's cheaper to uber or park at each airport based on the days I'll be gone. I remember DFW had some really cheap long term parking, but I'm sure the cost has gone up. Any other bus companies or flight options I might not be thinking of?

Just went back to finishing the Hyperion quadrilogy based on Hornian's recommendation. I'm about halfway through book 3. I often dislike books where they pick up far in the future and the main characters from the previous books are all gone, but I'm enjoying this one. I also listened to We are Legion (We are Bob) and it's sequel, We are Many. I was expecting a really comical Sci-Fi series and had held off listening to it. While it does have a good amount of humor, there's plenty of serious stuff going on and I'm enjoying the series. I took a pause on the Stormlight Archive. I listened to the first 3 books and the novella Edge Dancer. Honestly, if I didn't know there would be more novels, as I finished book three, it seemed like he was tying things up. They are SOOOOOO long though, needed a break before I finish out the remaining two books and novellas. Looks like there is a new Expeditionary Force novel out, I had thought the series was wrapped up. Have to check that out. And another Undying Mercanaries is coming soon.