Thursday Things

September 28, 2017

Sorry I skipped a week! Did you notice? Are you out there listening to me? Why not leave a comment and let me know you are here?

What I’m Playing

Colonial Twilight: The French-Algerian War, 1954–62 – Played this 2-player COIN game with a friend down at Guardian Games. I’ve also been diving deep into the history of the French / Algerian conflict in the 1950s/60s and love the duality of reading, watching, and playing through this conflict.
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 – Julie and I are back into our efforts to save the world from the pandemic! We are in August now so working into the back half of the year. We should finish by December.
Fields of Arle – Ken and I played this Rosenberg game, my second play and Ken’s first. The second play went so much faster than the first, and this game is a keeper for both of us. He edged me out by one point, but it was all through it and only took 2.5 hours to get through. Next play will easily be under 2 hours.

Nothing But Thieves: One Step Closer to World Domination – Can’t remember where I learned about this album, but I’m enjoying it.
Josh Ritter, ‘Gathering’ – Josh Ritter is a staple for Julie and me and he rightfully deserves the label “one of the best songwriters so far of the 21st century” (my label).

Satya Nadella Rewrites Microsoft’s Code – Great example of how a strong leader can rewrite the DNA of a company and take a long view of culture and product development.
My Kid’s Graduating from College and I’m Supposed to be Happy? – I don’t suffer from unhappiness resulting from all of the changes swirling (Jacob graduating, Matthew near graduating) but it does fill me with nostalgia and slight longing for times past.

Moral letters to Lucilius Volume 1 – AKA “letters from a stoic”, this probably completes my deep dive into stoicism.
To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others – This books was recommended to me by one of my students and I’m glad I read it. This isn’t so much for dedicated sales folks, but more for people who find themselves in a role of selling as a component of their overall job.
A Sense of Urgency – Surprisingly good as I thought the core premise of the book was a bit too obvious. The book provides specific methods for detecting a lack of urgency in an organization along with tactics for how to achieve a sense of urgency.