A Week in Review

9 days ago (Tuesday): Got flu shot.
7 days ago: Developed flu-like symptoms.
6 days ago: Had 100.2 deg temperature while celebrating xmas with Mom, Sister and her family in TN. Called doc who said I was not contagious and to keep taking meds, drinking fluids, etc.
4 days ago: Had 102 deg temperature when we get back home. Call out sick for Monday to be safe.
3 days ago: Fever finally breaks that morning. Stay home recovering with Riley (whose school was closed).
2 days ago (Xmas): Riley has 101 deg temperature and stomach cramps that morning. Give him meds and is ok by the afternoon.
1 day ago: He and I stay home to make sure he's fully better before sending him back to school.

Was this all the result of a flu shot? I don't know but that was the first flu shot I have had since I can remember as well as the first time I've had the flu and not a cold in about as long. Needless to say, I'm done with flu shots for the foreseeable future.

WIR: Daemon World

After two weeks, I have not made much headway with the graph theory book. This is not due to the subject itself directly but rather the time allotted it. I'm going to keep at it but only as a side book for when I have a decent amount of time (at least 30 minutes) available.

So next up is another Warhammer 40k novel called Daemon World.

WIR/Dive Into: Introductory Graph Theory

WIR and Dive Into crossover!? What!? Yes, I decided to use both categories for this one since it's a technical book as opposed to just a non-fiction book.

As much as I would like to pick up another unread fiction book off of my shelves, I think it's time for something more educational. I had started Introductory Graph Theory back towards the beginning of the year but it got placed to the side due to lack of time. Even though I try to read during my random and (up until lately) limited free time, I didn't want to do that random, short duration read of this book. It is one of those that really needs concentration to truly absorb the information contained within. Now that I am not so bogged down by things, I decided to return to it.

Luckily, when I stopped I had just finished chapter one so there is not much I need to recover this time around. Even though I had graph theory back in college, those days are long in the past (sigh); and even then, this book  goes into a lot more detail then was covered in class. I look forward to diving into it.

This is one of two graph theory books I picked up at the same time. The other, A First Course in Graph Theory, is by the same author (well, that one has two); and while it generally covers the same topic, I have read that the two books compliment each other. So I might choose it as the next WIR book.

Gone Digital: Mesmer Fun, Phase 2

Wow! Finally a non-WIR post. Last night my little Asura mesmer reached level 80, and the best part was that it involved absolutely no grinding/farming whatsoever. It mainly involved the personal story up to the lower 60s part, map completion (~56%) and a couple dozen dungeon runs (~95% being the Mad King's Labyrinth). The only parts that seemed like a chore were a few of the vistas and trying to figure out how to reach them. (Yea for Youtube!)

Now the she is max level, I will continue with the rough plan I have mentally created (and now finally written down).

• Mostly finish map completion. Mostly because once you do you get a star by your name that people can see even in PvP. This would normally not be an issue; but for someone that constantly creates illusions of ones self, the stupid star let's opposing players see which "me" is actually me. Hopefully Anet will fix this soon.
• Run the remaining dungeons on story mode. So far she's only been through Ascalonian Catacombs. 1 down, 7 to go.
• Run Fractals of the Mists to raise that dungeon level. Current Fractal level: 1 (sigh).
• (Finally) do some PvP.
• Continue working on crafting skills.
• Doing the remaining jumping puzzles. (I hate jumping puzzles but these are mostly not too bad.)
• Going through achievement list and doing whatever strikes my fancy at the time.

WIR: Prince of Wolves

Next up on the reading list: Prince of Wolves. This is another (the first actually) Pathfinder Tales novel that deals with Venture Captain Varian Jeggare and his bodyguard Radovan. Both were also in the novel Master of Devils which I've read since this site's beginning but before the start of the WIR section.

WIR: Winter Witch

Poor Age of Legend has been shelved again. This time for good. Not because it's not a good book but because, after starting the second story in it, I realized that I had read the book before. I thought the first story seemed really familiar but figured I had just started it and stopped for whatever reason. But when the second seemed familiar too, I checked on the others. Yup. Been there, done that. Sigh. That's what I get for having so many books with a bunch of them on the "to-be-read" list.

In it's place is one of Paizo's Pathfinder Tales novels, Winter Witch. It concerns the northern frozen lands of Irrisen as well as it's rulers, the winter witches. These mysterious and powerful ladies are headed by none other than that most famous of scary witches, Baba Yaga and her mortal(?) daughters.

WIR: Edge of Destiny

One of the things I like about anthologies is the nice break points for pausing reading. With that in mind, this past weekend I temporarily put aside Age of Legends and started (and have nearly finished) Edge of Destiny, the second book in the GW-GW2 bridging stories. So far, it's been interesting and not filled with "game crunch" parts.