Today was a typical November day; kind of cold and windy. Sort of a boring weekend. Bought a new vacuum and cleaned out my car. Had a date on Friday but I'm pretty certain it was a one shot.

My brother 7 of 12 welcomed my newest nephew into the family on Thursday. His wife gave birth to a 9lb and some odd ounces baby boy. I now have a total of seven nieces and nephews. My brother 7 of 12 is the physics PhD who works for Intel in Portland, Oregon. I have yet to meet his wife although they have been married for over a year now. I don't anticipate meeting her or my new nephew for a few years.

I have been reading Walter Jon William's 'The Dread Empire's Fall: Praxis'. With the title and the knowledge that the book is science fiction you might successfully deduce that it is very space opera, Star Wars-ish. Just some fun military SF written in William's usual compelling fashion. Williams very blatantly avoids having to deal with genetic engineering and artifical intelligences (ala Vingian Singularity type stuff) by having humans part of an empire created by a military race that expressly forbid research in those areas. But who knows, maybe now that the empire is in rebellion all of those technologies may come into play in sequels. Williams is an excellent writer and I wouldn't put a few interesting twists past him.

I should get to sleep early. Two fact finding hearings tomorrow.