T-Minus 5 Days...

...and then I'll have a newer used car.

The white hunk of shit is, for intents and purposes, dead. It still runs, but I tire of freezing my ass of in the morning driving to work and being barely able to see out the windshield.

So, I have begun the process of acquiring a loan to purchase a 1998 Toyota Camry XLE 6-cylinder with 86k miles, that is totally maxxed out. I'm going from ZERO amenities to all of the amenities.

Book Review:

I've just about finished this book up.

What can I say. I like it! It combines aspects of "Ender's Game" and "Starship Troopers" but with its own flavor.

Instead of children fighting our wars in outer space in the future, Earth sends those that have the most maturity and experience in life. 75 year olds. Once they sign up and join, they are never allowed to return to Earth, and for good reason.

Once they are on their ship heading towards their training planet, each Senior Citizen undergoes a proceedure that transfers his concisousness from his 75 year old decrepit body to a new body of a 20 year old that has been engineered from their DNA and specially modified to help them fight against aliens.

Each body also includes a personal computer implanted within their brains. John Perry, the main character, names his computer (known as a "BattlePal") "Asshole" and programs it to respond to a certain phrase: "Hey Asshole." Funnier than that is the notification he receives from his BattlePal that a larger number of other recruits have also named their BattlePals "Asshole".

Overall, the book is a fast read, but very well crafted. John Perry encounters the "Special Forces" of the humans, and oddly enough, runs into his wife. The problem? She's been dead for 9 years.

This will transition the story into the 2nd book Scalzi has written:

The Ghost Brigades are humanities' special forces. They are basically clones engineered from DNA from the dead. John Perry's wife died 9 years ago, but not before both of them had signed up to join the military (at age 65). Even though you sign up at 65, you don't physically join until 75.

But, since John Perry's wife had signed, and then died before physically joining, the military was contractually able to use her DNA to create a clone of her for the Ghost Brigades. Unfortunately, the clones do not retain any memories or consciousness of the people whose DNA they were born from.

They are also only as old as their body. Even though their body is that of a 20 year old, the majority of the Ghost Brigade soldiers range in age from 2 years old to 6 years old. And although they are adult and have the skills and intelligence of an adult, they lack the emotional maturity of a 20 year old.

Anyways, I haven't gotten "Ghost Brigades" yet, but will be getting it shortly and look forward to it!

She's about to get a Giant Something!

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