A year after going tankless it was time to flush the heat exchanger. At Ted's recommendation, Pops originally installed it with isolation valves, so hooking it up to a pump would be a wrench-free affair.


I picked up a pump on amzn and with that it was a pretty quick and straightforward procedure:

• Close (cold) water inlet valve
• Open hot side, drain into bucket
• Close hot side
• Attach pump hoses from 50/50 vinegar solution to cold and then back to the bucket
• Run for a few minutes

My c. 2006 Alpinestars jacket was finally in need of replacement. It's not falling apart, but it lost a zipper tooth and wrist snap. So for convenience sake and because it's still the top half of my track suit, I went shopping for a replacement.

I've always been satisfied with newenough.com or, as they've been know for a decade or so, motorcyclegear.com. They had a pretty solid deal on a Dianese jacket, so I ordered it. After two size tries with newenough and a few more at Cyclegear, it's clear Dianese doesn't fit me. I kind of expected the euro brand to be super slim fit, but sure enough their jackets are all very wide. I guess maybe they have a product line targeting only large Americans?

In any event, I popped in to Cyclegear for black friday and grabbed a new A* jacket. I kept one of the Dianeses for cold weather, that is, it's perfect for an additional under layer. I'm slightly concerned that in the last decade A* seems to have decreased the size of their zippers significantly. Maybe I'm just assuming larger = more rugged, but if looking for a replacement in five years I will be displeased. The only other significant differences are snaps -> velcro and there's a back-mounted ram air for cooling.


The Lolbaters Battle Royale Squad is ticking off unofficial team achievements, in this case a squad wipe with mostly vehicle kills.


In another event, CattleDecapitation baited two players into looting him while hosu lobbed a grenade onto them.



As J put it, we have absolutely no idea how far we are in Divinity. But we're still seeing crazy new stuff and still encountering the most hilarious dialogue.



Working through FE Revelation while optimizing skill combinations has been fun. I don't read the FAQs much, but probably the dominant strategy is maxing out stats and focusing on a select few units, using items to compensate for RNG issues. That's less interesting to me than optimizing skill and team composition as well as 'shipping everyone, then taking the creme de la creme. My approach for this playthrough:

• Build a corps of profiteers (and salvage blow) early (merchants that generate gold based on luck). Money solves many problems and after an especially cash-strapped Birthright campaign, it's good to have a steady income. Being used in every scenario, these units will be on top of the xp curve, which is nice for tanking and support after turn 7.
• Decide pairings beforehand, keeping in mind recruitment chapter. Otherwise you end up behind the leveling curve having done no paralogues and then get a flood of new units toward the final chapter.
• Have a final team of second-gen units, simply because I can skill select. There may be better first gen units based on stats, but it's easier to just focus on the second generation. This means ignore all the hermit units, which helps a little with keeping xp focused. Mozu and moneymakers are possible exceptions.
• Shoot for completing a bunch of paralogues on chapter 20. This is where seal supply is infinite and units come in at promoted level 6, meaning they can be reclassed a bit before 15. Eventually you become overleveled and have to play a few story chapters.
• Somewhere around half of the units have offspring that is their same class, meaning redundant skill pools. So it's good to have a plan for reclassing early. Friendship seals are helpful here, but it's tough to get A+ supports when you're trying to get everyone an S support.
• Staves are free xp, if you have the money. Healing is always an option, so classes that support staff means leveling outside the enemy pool.

A few of my favorite combos:

• Moneymaker: Azura (+4 luck) + Mechant (profiteer/luck) + Blacksmith (salvage blow/luck) -> Kinshi knight for to be back line flyer/AA/heal
• Debuffer: Spear Master (seal defense, speed) + Mechanist (poisonstrike, replicate) -> Sniper/Master Ninja for range 3 spy shuriken attack
• Killer: Master Ninja (lethality/skill) + Basara (quixotic) -> Any high skill class
• DPS tank: Sorcerer (vengeance/skill) + Samurai (vantage) -> General/nine tails/wolfseggener
• Support: the rally abilities are somewhat spread out, but loading them up on a single unit that is finally reclassed to something tanky is great

Parents	Passed Skill	Child	Classes/Skills	Notes
Corrin	Hero (5) Sol	Kana	Nohr Princess At 13 Nohr Noble: Aptitude Sol Nobility Dragon Fang Draconic Hex	Corrin/Mozu is almost obligatory for maxing stats from Aptitude. Sol helps with tankiness (since Kana's skill should be high). There are a lot of ways to go with the second trait, but it's somewhat limited by wanting to unlock the Kana paralogue early.
Mozu	Villager (any) Aptitude
Subaki	Swordmaster (5) Astra	Caeldori	Sky Knight At 13 Oni Chieftain: Astra Salvage Blow Air Superiority Death Blow Counter	Caeldori doesn't have a specific build, I started with Salvage Blow but wasn't super impressed. That said, Astra + Death Blow could make for some excellent killer weapon action.
Rinkah	Blacksmith (5) Salvage Blow
Kaze	Master Ninja (5) Lethality	Midori	Apothecary At 16 Mechanist: Luck +4 Lethality Profiteer Air Superiority Ameratsu	With Luck + 4 and Profiteer, Midori turns out 1200+ gold every map. With Lethality and Air Superiority, she can do some damage from the back, where Ameratsu keeps the heals coming.
Azura	Songstress (-) Luck
Hayato	Blacksmith (5) Salvage Blow	Rhajat	Diviner At 18 Oni Chieftain: Salvage Blow Profiteer Rend Heaven Tomefaire Death Blow	Another Profiteer build, minus Luck but with Salvage Blow. Decent def/res combined with being overleveled (from starting every map) means Rhajat can make money but do some solid tome damage.
Oboro	Apothecary (5) Profiteer
Takumi	Basara (15) Quixotic	Kiragi	Archer At 17 Master of Arms: Astra Quixotic Bowfaire Duelist's Blow Vantage	I'm working Kiragi toward being a DPS archer. Quixotic + Astra should mean frequent 5x half damage attacks with Bowfaire and (soon) Master of Arms upping the base damage. Pairing Kiragi with a replica will hopefully mean Kiragi keeps the guard shields full, when that fails vantage may keep him alive if he doesn't get oneshotted.
Hana	Swordmaster (5) Astra
Hinata	Oni Chieftain (5) Death Blow	Hisame	Samurai At 11 Berserker: Sol Vantage Duelist's Blow Death Blow Astra	The usual glass cannon build. Death Blow and Astra for crits plus Vantage and Sol to help survivability.
Selena	Hero (5) Sol
Kaden	Basara (15) Quixotic	Selkie	Kitsune At 15 Nine-Tails: Beastbane Axebreaker Quixotic Even Better Grisly Wound	Felicia surprised me with pulling down Axebreaker early in the campaign (Butler/Maid levels are weird). Kaden doesn't have a lot of reclass options, I initially went Hero thinking Selkie could be tanky with Sol. Instead he went Quixotic which I'm not sure is particularly useful to Selkie. I can reclass her into something with a 15+ skill I want to proc frequently, then back to a Nine-Tails.
Felicia	Hero (15) Axebreaker
Keaton	Hero (5) Sol	Velouria	Wolfskin At 14 Hero: Sol Vengeance Vantage Astra HP +5	Velouria is my experiment into a serious berzerker (without using the berzerker class). Wolfskins tend to have high HP and avoid, but when it gets under half she'll strike first and maybe regain health with Sol or oneshot the enemy with Vengeance. As usual, Astra will help keep her shields up.
Camilla	Sorcerer (5) Vengeance
Arthur	Fighter (-) HP +5	Percy	Wyvern Rider At 13 Great Knight: HP +5 Lunge Wary Fighter Sol Luna	I wasn't sure where to go with Arthur (and settled on HP +5), but Effie's Wary Fighter skill is great for classic tanking. Percy comes in with Lunge which is nice for anyone that's highly survivability. Sol and Luna may not proc much with a low skill build, but don't hurt. When Percy gets to 15 he'll get Armored Blow stuff will just bounce off of him. From there, maybe Aegis or friendship his way to Tomebreaker.
Effie	General (5) Wary Fighter
Benny	General (5) Wary Fighter	Ignatius	Knight At 14 Bezerker: Defense +2 Lunge Wary Fighter Luna HP +5	Ignatius is built a lot like Percy, I wanted to hedge my tank in case one drew really low resistance. Similar stuff here except he's making a stopover at Berzerker to become an axe specialist.
Beruka	Wyvern Rider (-) Lunge
Silas	Great Knight (5) Luna	Sophie	Cavalier At 14 Paladin: Luna Shelter Elbow Room Renewal Defender	Renewal on a tanky unit is pretty awesome. As long as I keep Sophie generally out of trouble, she can run around behind enemy lines. In this vein, reclassing her to Adventurer for Movement +1 and Pass could be fun, but probably won't do much on the harder levels.
Sakura	Shrine Maiden (5) Renewal
Ryoma	Swordmaster (5) Astra	Shiro	Spear Fighter At 10 Sniper: Seal Defense Astra Seal Speed Vantage Seal Strength	Shiro's going full debuff. After learning three seal skills, anyone he attacks becomes especially squishy. After friending Kiragi, he's on his way to sporting a Spy Yumi and do his stuff from a safe distance. If I can get him Replicate, it means twice the debuff with only one bow.
Elise	Malig Knight (5) Savage Blow
Azama	Great Master (5) Renewal	Mitama	Shrine Maiden Unpromoted: Rally Luck Miracle Replicate Renewal	I may have wasted Azama's Renewal skill on a back line character, though I might move Mitama toward a flyer build where, as long as I can keep her away from bows, Renewal could be useful. Otherwise she's competing with Forrest for back line healer/buffer and having Replicate puts her in the lead, not to mention Rally Luck works very well with the moneymaker builds described above.
Setsuna	Mechanist (l5) Replicate
Xander	Great Knight (5) Luna	Siegbert	Cavalier Not yet recruited	With Luna and Quixotic, Siegbert could do some damage from horseback. If he stays in the Paladin track, Aegis may keep him out of trouble. I'll probably make him an all-around character with high mobility, though I'm somewhate tempted to make him a tanky Pegasus Knight.
Hinoka	Basara (l5) Quixotic
Leo	Sorcerer (5) Vengeance	Forrest	Troubadour Not yet recruited	With Vengeance and Tomefaire, Forrest has the skills to be a front line mage, but if he pulls low defense and HP, he'll be a liability aside from 1-on-1 mage battles.
Nyx	Onmyoji (15) Tomefaire
Odin	Swordmaster (5) Astra	Ophelia	Dark Mage Not yet recruited	I'll probably promote Ophelia to Sorcerer for Vengeance and Dark Knight to get Lifetaker at level 15. The combination of these should mean each of her two copies could do serious magic damage and heal each other.
Kagero	Mechanist (15) Replicate
Laslow	Hero (5) Sol	Soleil	Mercenary At 14 Bow Knight: Sol Luna Strong Riposte Good Fortune Rally Skill	With Sol and Luna, Soleil could be a good all-around unit, but maybe second banana to Siegbert since Quixotic will make these trigger more for him.
Peri	Great Knight (5) Luna
Niles	Sorcerer (5) Vengeance	Nina	Outlaw At 15 Dark Knight: Movement +1 Sol Vengeance Locktouch Pass	Nina is in Dark Knight to learn Lifetaker as a way to stay alive behind their lines. After that she may go Bow Knight and get some Boots.
Charlotte	Hero (5) Sol
Saizo	Mechanist (15) Replicate	Asugi	Ninja At 15 Master Ninja: Replicate Quixotic Locktouch Lethality Shurikenfaire	I targeted promoted level 15 with a couple pairs, including Saizo and Orochi. This meant going for Replicate and Quixotic to make Asugi (and Asugi replicant) a great first strike option. Quixotic + Lethality means he can oneshot the occasional enemy, otherwise he'll debuff them and do a fair bit of shuriken damage.
Orochi	Basara (15) Quixotic

Unused
Jakob	Dwyer	Reina	Gunter	Fuga
Flora	Scarlet	Shura	Izana

My buddy Keith lived in a graveyard once for a whole year. It wasn't a dare or nothin', he just got kicked out of his house. He said he NEVER saw a single ghost 'cept for this one time when a ghost stabbed him from behind and took all his money, and he might've just been a homeless guy, 'cause he had a robe on with two eyes cut out his face...

?

The grey dog burst a blood vessel in his ear, so we had to keep it elevated. He was displeased.



Jes took me to the DTF soft opening in UTC. It was pretty tasty, particularly the truffle XLBs.


All too late I noticed they have what looks like the upscale equivalent of Spicy City's spicy chicken cubes with peppers. Definitely going to give that a try next time.


Did some (what I presume are) xmas photos for D+K.



I recently got through my hard/classic playthrough of FE Fates: Birthright. So of course I've moved on to Revelation. It's pretty great to have the combined characters for the final plot arc, I'm taking the team crafting very seriously.


Mark and Chase have both moved on to new Gloomhaven characters. Rouge, my rogue, has two more scenarios before she retires. ~15 scenarios in the gameplay still feels pretty fresh.

Jes and I went up to Seattle/Burien to see Jon/c/Tori's new place and new pup. Jes went up early, I joined on Friday and we took Pepper to the shore.


Jori came in on Saturday and gave us a few tour options. We couldn't really read any of it, so we just let them drive us around.


We drove through the city, making stops at the sbux Roastery, Pike's, the Gasworks, and Rock Creek.



Meanwhile Kafka hung out with Derrick and Koko, Lola, some kids, and some cats.


Jes brought home the Halloween party costume award yet again. I wore it, but the craftmanship was all her. Photos courtesy Courtney.



I pretty much maxed out my video editing skill combined with all there is to see in PUBG that isn't eyebleedingly boring. But then the crew and I were cruising through Cobreria and got into a fun little bit of vehicle-on-vehicle action.

pubg



Twitch managed to title a promotional email encapsulating everything that is wrong with gaming.

If you're still alive, grab some ammo. If you're not, THIS MESSAGE IS IRRELEVANT!

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