Pathfinder Pugilist

The other day I was wondering which Pathfinder character would make a better unarmed fighter, a Monk or a Fighter who specialized in unarmed combat.

The answer is partially a matter of style.  The Monk would be much more mobile.  The Fighter could enjoy using any magic weapons and armor found while adventuring.  What about sheer damage?

Let's assume our Fighter has a starting STR and DEX both 16, and will increment DEX at levels 4, 8, and 12 to qualify for all of the two-weapon feats.

When writing attack bonuses, I'll use green for primary-hand attacks and red for off-hand attacks.

L1 Improved Unarmed Strike, Two-Weapon Fighting: -1/-1 , no damage bonus
  BAB +1, then -2/-2 for TWF
L2 Weapon Focus (unarmed): +1/+1 , no damage bonus
  BAB +2, then -2/-2 for TWF, then +1 for Weapon Focus
L3 Power Attack: +1/+1 , damage +2
  BAB +3, then -2/-2 for TWF, then +1 for Weapon Focus, then -1 for Power Attack
  damage +2 from Power Attack
L4 Weapon Specialization (unarmed), Power Attack increments: +1/+1 , damage +6
  BAB +4, then -2/-2 for TWF, then +1 for Weapon Focus, then -2 for Power Attack
  damage +4 from Power Attack, then +2 from Weapon Specialization
L5 Double Slice, Weapon Training 1 (unarmed): +3/+3 , damage +7
  BAB +5, -2/-2 for TWF, +1 for Weapon Focus, -2 for Power Attack, +1 for Weapon Training
  damage +4 from Power Attack, +2 from Weapon Specialization, +1 from Weapon Training
  Double Slice allows full STR modifier to apply to off-hand damage
L6 Improved Two-Weapon Fighting: +4/+4/-1/-1 , damage +7
  BAB +6, -2/-2 for TWF, +1 for Weapon Focus, -2 for Power Attack, +1 for Weapon Training
  second primary hand attack at -5 because of BAB +6, second off-hand attack at -5 from ITWF
  damage +4 from Power Attack, +2 from Weapon Specialization, +1 from Weapon Training
L7 ?: +5/+5/+0/+0 , damage +7
  BAB increments.  For feat options at this level, see suggestions below.
L8 Greater Weapon Focus (unarmed), Power Attack increments: +6/+6/+1/+1 , damage +9
  BAB +8, -2/-2 TWF, +2 Weapon Focus & GWF, -3 Power Attack, +1 Weapon Training
  damage +6 from Power Attack, +2 from Weapon Specialization, +1 from Weapon Training
L9 ?, Weapon Training 2 (unarmed): +8/+8/+3/+3 , damage +10
  BAB +9, -2/-2 TWF, +2 Weapon Focus & GWF, -3 Power Attack, +2 Weapon Trainings
  damage +6 from Power Attack, +2 from Weapon Specialization, +2 from Weapon Trainings 
  For feat options at this level, see suggestions below
L10 ?: +9/+9/+4/+4 , damage +10
  BAB increments.  For feat options at this level, see suggestions below
L11 Two-Weapon Rend: +10/+10/+5/+5/+0 , damage +10
  BAB increments.  Two-Weapon Rend causes possible per-round extra damage d10 + STR x 1.5
  Third primary hand attack at -10 because of BAB +11
L12 Greater Weapon Specialization (unarmed), Power Attack increments: +10/+10/+5/+5/+0 , damage +14
  BAB +12, -2/-2 TWF, +2 Weapon Focus & GWF, -4 Power Attack, +2 Weapon Trainings
  damage +8 from Power Attack, +4 from Weapon Specializations, +2 from Weapon Trainings
L13 Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Training 3 (unarmed): +12/+12/+7/+7/+2/+2 , damage +15
  BAB +13, -2/-2 TWF, +2 Weapon Focus & GWF, -4 Power Attack, +3 Weapon Trainings
  Third off-hand attack at -10 because of Greater Two-Weapon Fighting
  damage +8 from Power Attack, +4 from Weapon Specializations, +3 from Weapon Trainings

(Nothing special in the above plan: I expect it is how many dual wield Fighters advance, with their favored weapon used instead of unarmed combat.)

What could our Fighter do with the three "free" feats above?  One option is to learn "wrestling" by taking Enforcer, Combat Expertise, and Improved Trip.  Another option is to become an effective archer by using second-tier Weapons Training for bow use and taking the three basic archery feats of Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, and Rapid Shot.

So, at level 13, how much damage is this Fighter doing on average when all six attacks hit?

     12 (d3, 6x) + 18 (STR modifier of 3, 6x) + 90 (damage bonus 15, 6x) + 9 (Two-Weapon Rend) = 129 damage

In comparison, a level 13 Monk has five attacks and only two feats to boost damage: Power Attack and Two-Weapon Rend.  With Weapon Focus (unarmed) the Monk attacks at +8/+8/+3/+3/-2 and if all five of these inferior attacks hit still only has an average damage of:

     35 (2d6, 5x) + 15 (STR modifier of 3, 5x) + 40 (Power Attack +8, 5x) + 9 (Two-Weapon Rend) = 89 damage

So the fighter does an average of 45% more damage.  The Monk's extra movement speed and abilities that help escape harmful situations is useful, and he is a much superior grappler.  But I expect most groups of adventurers would prefer to have the Fighter with them, who would finish the combat sooner to keep the entire party safer.

(The Monk could close the gap if he could take the Improved Natural Attack feat, but the online Bestiary errata specifies that the feat does not apply to Unarmed Strikes.)

Bright and Early

Oops.  Last night I did not adjust the clocks for Daylight Savings Time until late, and was neglectfully tired and set them the wrong way.

Now I'm up two hours too early.  Time to bake cookies!

Smiley's Similes

Smiley has been working on his understanding of how things have different aspects.  Sometimes things resemble each other in only one minor way.  Sometimes things are completely different.

This leads to some interesting observations.

A few days ago he said:

Scuffy the Tugboat is like Noah's Ark, but different.

Well, I can't argue with that.  They are both boats, even if about as different as two boats can be.

On Wednesday we drove past a utility truck parked within some orange cones, beside a manhole.  He said:

Utility trucks are like babies, but different.

That was more puzzling.  Eventually I guided him to explain his comparison: both utility trucks and babies are noisy.

Last night he was talking about chickens and roosters and declared:

Roosters are not good.  Not good at all.

He does not like roosters, because the one at Annette's scares him with its shrill cry.  So we talked about how the rooster might protect the chickens with that noise.  I offered, "What if a fox wanted to hurt the chickens but the rooster frightened away the fox?"  The rooster could be a little bit good because it protected the chickens, even if it was not all good because it was not friendly to Smiley.  Then he mimicked, "Or an elephant would hurt the chickens but the rooster scared it away."  Um, okay.

Pathfinder Summoner-Monk

Blogging was suspended three weeks as the medications fighting my sinus infection got the best of me, and I became intrigued with designing a Pathfinder Summoner that could actually ride his eidolon into combat safely and helpfully.  More blogging soon.  New Smiley videos are being uploaded as I type.  But first, to finish processing this and finally get it out of my head, I present my new Pathfinder character idea...

UPDATE: After playing a Summoner for a few levels I have given up on the character class in a primary melee role.  The rule granting maximum hit points at first level disguises how weak the PC and eidolon really are.  By fifth level either can be killed in one round by a CR 5 enemy; by tenth level either can often be killed in one attack by a CR 10 enemy.  True, the Summoner could use its many "buff" spells to make the eidolon stronger (see this complete Handbook about doing so), but this is inferior to a full-caster class buffing the party's Fighter.

The Summoner is a good buffer. In playtests it was too powerful when able to use its Spell-Like Ability while the eidolon is out.  This is not surprising: that's a darn nice SLA!  If the class had no eidolon and instead had some other class boost to either buffing or the summon SLA it would be much more solid.  A class that did two things very well would help a party more than a class that does three things moderately well.  (Perhaps a GM could design a house rule of a Summoner with no eidolon that instead chose either buffing or the SLA to focus on, similar to how rangers pick archery or two-weapon combat.)

The key insight from the Handbook is noticing that the Summoner's Spell-Like Ability summons a monster for several minutes, and the eidolon can be brought into play using the first of those minutes.  So if the Summoner has 66 seconds to prepare he can enter a battle with both a summoned creature and the eidolon.

Dr. Jouns Vond

Gnome Monk (Ki Mystic) 1 / Summoner 10 / Sorcerer (Arcane) 1 / Monk (Ki Mystic) ?

Ability Scores: STR 12, DEX 14, CON 10, INT 14, WIS 14, CHA 14
(twenty point build, at 4th and 8th levels raise CHA +1)
Gnome abilities: Low-Light Vision, Keen Senses, Master Tinker, Obsessive, Pyromaniac
General trait: Magical Knack
Kingmaker campaign trait: Orlovsky

Planned Skills: Each level take one rank in Ride, Spellcraft, and Stealth, as well as one other skill.  For thematic reasons, use the "free" skill point at first level for Craft (Weaponsmith).  Study Linguistics twice, to learn to speak Ignan and Terran.

Planned Feats:  During the first five levels pick up Combat Expertise, Deflect Arrows (free with Monk level), Improved Trip, and Improved Familiar.  At seventh level get Leadership, and at ninth level learn Coordinated Maneuvers.  At eleventh get Improved Share Spells (requires 10 ranks of Spellcraft at eleventh level).  Eschew Materials is gained with the Sorcerer level; Combat Reflexes upon returning to Monk at twelfth level.  At thirteenth level take Greater Trip.

(The feats Leadership and Improved Familiar help my character's story.  In general, more combat-worthy replacements would be Mounted Combat and Trick Riding.)

Planned Summoner Spells: Certain Summoner Spells are especially desirable to Jouns.  The feat Improved Share Spells will work well with the first level spells Mage armor, Shield, Expeditious Retreat, and Endure Elements; the second level spells Alter Self, Haste, Bull's Strength, and Barkskin; and the third level spells Displacement, Greater Magic Fang, Greater Invisibility.  He will also seek Slow, Black Tentacles and the variations of Rejuvinate Eidolon.

Planned Sorcerer Spells: Four more cantrips: Ray of Frost, Spark, Touch of Fatigue, Arcane Mark.  First level spells Disguise Self and True Strike.

Jouns spent his early adulthood with other Pyromaniac Gnome Tinkers trying to develop fire-based weapons.  But Jouns became fascinated with Irori, and switched from researching devices to the path of monastic self-improvement--secretly hoping that meditating on candle flames would inspire him to invent a new fiery martial art form.  Ultimately, however, Irori had other plans for Jouns.  When adventurers are assigned the task of taming some wild lands and establishing a town, Jouns is joins the chartered group.  Soon afterwards, Irori sent a strange creature slightly like an earth elemental to Jouns, instructing him to focus on rock instead of fire as the source of a new meditative style and a martial art ("The Way of Stone and Shadow").  When the new town is founded, Jouns establishes a small monastery for followers of Irori.

Partway through his adventures (at fifth level), Jouns is surprised again when some elemental magic in his veins awakens.  He learns some new spells and gains a small Earth Elemental familiar.

Toward the end of his campagin (at twelfth level, with ten levels of Summoner) Jouns feels he has learned all that he can from the ways of a Summoner: he has trained his eidolon to be an accomplished grappler, he can summon large Elementals and cast fourth-level spells, and he can shift elemental energies into his own body.  With Irori's blessing, he declares his study of elemental-themed energy complete and shifts his efforts of self-improvement back to the traditional monastic paths.

Jouns rides his eidolon during combat.  As a Master Tinker, he is proficient with a whip he braids himself.  During the first two levels the eidolon seldom charges, instead using its five foot step after a Full Attack to provide reach for Joun's whip to attempt a trip or disarm.  Starting at third level he attacks with Flurry of Blows to make two trip attempts each combat round, unless using the whip to disarm is smarter.  When a tripped opponent attempts to stand up, both Jouns and his eidolon (and often their allies) can make an AOO. 

Jouns is indeed a bit vulnerable in the midst of combat.  He is slightly aided by his Monk training (adding Wisdom modifier to AC, the feat Deflect Arrows), which also allows more magical items to help him defensively (any that increase Wisdom, Monk's Robe).  Mostly he relies on hindering adjacent foes with his trip and disarm, his eidolon's grapple, and spells such as the bard's Grease and the druid's Entangle.  He also wears Mage Armor most combats and in risky situations uses Shield.

For some reason the Pathfinder SRD does not have the alternate Monk Archetypes from the Advanced Player's Guide.  The Ki Mystic is unchanged at the first two monk levels, and then has the ability Still Mind replaced by the following new ability:

Ki Mystic (Su): At 3rd level, a Ki Mystic gains a pool of ki points equal to his Wisdom modifier. The pool increases to 1/2 his monk level + his Wisdom modifier + 2 at level 4. If the monk has at least 1 point of ki in his ki pool, he gains a +2 bonus on all Knowledge skill checks. As a swift action, the monk can spend 1 ki point immediately before making an ability or skill check to gain a +4 insight bonus on the check.

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Ozzie

medium quadruped eidolon (a rocky lizard, somewhat like a stumpy alligator)

Planned Skills: The eidolon gets four flexible class skills: use Acrobatics, Disable Device, Survival, and Use Magic Device. With every eidolon hit die take one rank in Perception, Stealth, and Use Magic Device.  After putting one rank into Survival to activate the class skill bonus, alternate the fourth skill rank between Acrobatics and Disable Device.

Planned Feats: Power Attack, Improved Grapple, Coordinated Maneuvers, and Greater Grapple.

Planned Evolutions: Always have Mount, Claws, and Pounce.  Once qualified, always have Rake and Energy Attacks.  Ozzie will eventually have twelve evolution points: his final form will have Mount, Claws, Pounce, Improved Natural Armor twice, Skilled (Stealth), Rake, Energy Attacks, and Trip.

Ozzie often charges.  He attacks with his bite and both claws in combat rounds when being grappled is too dangerous.  But most of the time he grapples, since each grappling "damage" attempt attacks with bite and two raking claws, which does the same damage but further hinders the opponent.  After ninth level grappling really shines because the feat Greater Grapple allows two sets of bite and two raking class each turn.

When Ozzie grapples then Jouns cannot use the "Cover" Ride action and must keep one hand on the horn of his military saddle.

Gems and Ugliness in Pathfinder Plots

A couple months ago I was pleased to see that the local library has a few role-playing game campaign books.  I checked out the first two Pathfinder campaigns, each of which was six books long.

I do not have much time for pleasure reading, so it took me months to get through these, and many books I skipped entirely or only skimmed partially.

Two books stood out as adventures that are especially well-written.  Both provided many useful ideas for planning urban stories.

The first notable book is The Hook Mountain Massacre, which is the third part of the campaign entitled Rise of the Runelords.  The highlight of this adventure is when the heroes reclaim a fort captured by a large tribe of ogres: a daunting task made possible in all sorts of clever ways.  Before getting to the fort, the heroes rescue three of its previous inhabitants, who can provide helpful information and draw maps.  The fort includes one ancient watchtower ready to collapse and one badly-designed wooden building that can easily be lit on fire.  The fort's sewer system would be a messy but feasible way for a halfling or gnome hero to sneak in.  The cliff behind the fort has some tunnels and caverns that can allow quiet access into the fort (these are inhabited by a few cave beasts, but killing those monsters is much easier than a frontal assault on the fort).  The ogres belong to an evil religious cult, and an unusually observant group of heroes can even bluff their way to the leader by posing as high-ranking cultists.  The ogres are so noisy and used to fighting among themselves that they normally ignore what other ogres do or shout, and even the sounds of combat unless a watchtower bell is rung.  To spice up the action, one of the three rescued people is of course the traitor who provided the ogres with the information required to capture the fort: whether he continues to hide his guilt or he sabotages the heroes' plan depends upon how the adventure unfolds.  All-in-all, the adventure is a great example of how to challenge the PCs with a task that is too big for them by provided numerous options for seizing and combining small advantages.

The second notable book is Seven Days to the Grave, which is the second part of the campaign entitled Curse of the Crimson Throne.  This adventure was expressly designed to be the textbook example of how a plague spreading across a city would be a source of adventures.  It succeeds, but I won't spoil its surprises with a summary list.

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Unfortunately, both campaigns were needlessly filled with the despicable and vile.  The authors openly share that they admire horror films and use these as a source of ideas.  Moreover, making the villains acutely evil helps a combat-centric RPG by freeing the PCs from concerns about whether human enemies should be shown any mercy.  Nevertheless, it makes unpleasant reading.

As one example, a small side-plot within the plague adventure involves the PCs helping the city watch bring back a guard captain who has abandoned his duties.  A wealthy family has decided that gaining the loyalty of some military men would be a wise precaution during increasing civil unrest and thus offered this captain a job.  Each morning they will provide some livestock to an abandoned slaughterhouse to help feed the needy (food prices are increasing rapidly as farmers refuse to enter the plague-infested city) if he and some of his men will run the operation.  That setup is enough for an interesting story: how would this captain be most helpful to the city, does his loyalty as a city guard extend primarily to his superiors or to directly the populace, and what might the wealthy family eventually ask he and his men to do?  But the authors banish these subtle questions by making the captains four flunkies despicably evil men who have been moonlighting as murderous thugs and using their day job in the slaughterhouse to dispose of the bodies, and the captain a depressed drunk who has not emerged from his upstairs office in days.

That the city's poor have been eating "special" meat does nothing for the adventure except minimize storytelling and encouraging combat by allowing the PCs to kill the flunkies without remorse.  And those two Pathfinder campaigns are full of such superfluous depravity, which was one reason it took me months to skim through them to find the useful pearls of exemplary adventure design.  (Although I have heard that latter Pathfinder campaigns stop that trend, and the game's rulebooks certainly give little indication that they are written by fans of horror movies who write combat-heavy adventures.)

Math 20 Chapter Tests Online

This is cool.

The publisher of the Math 20 textbook I use (Bittinger) has posted video solutions to all of the book's chapter tests on YouTube.

Kinds of Cod

Since mid-Summer Smiley and I have switched our weekly barbecued fish to fresh Albacore Tuna, which is very responsible eating.  But for many months we were eating Black Rockfish, which our favorite fish market mislabels as "Cod" or sometimes "Pacific Snapper".  I became curious about the various fish named "Cod", and here is what I found out.

Pacific Cod, also called True Cod or Grayfish, is very responsible eating if caught in Alaska.  That is nearly always available fresh at the fish market.

Black Rockfish, sometimes called Cod in contrast to "True Cod", and sometimes falsely called Pacific Snapper, is nearly always available fresh and is very responsible eating.

The Sablefish, sometimes called Black Cod, is a delicacy and sold fresh only sometimes.  It is very responsible eating.

The badly misnamed Lingcod, which is of the same order as the Sablefish but not actual Cod, is often always available fresh.  It is responsible eating.

Touch Tanks

You can't really see it in the photograph, but Smiley is petting a fish!



This is at the Hatfield Science Center Visitor Center (as my wife said, "That's a lot of centering").  They have an even nicer touch tank than the nearby Newport Aquarium.  Oddly, their Kelp Greenling is not too averse to petting.  Smiley happened to find it slightly stuck between two rocks with a sea urchin in front of it, and the fish now and then wiggled a bit but never bothered to find an escape route.  This one is yellow, which means it is female (the males are blue).  It made me wonder my more fish owners with children do not have touch tanks instead of aquarium tanks: do most fish eventually become resigned to petting?

The next day, at the Newport Aquarium, he happened to find a very hungry small Green Kelp Crab which did not flee when pet.  Smiley enjoyed feeding bits of seaweed to it and the abalones.  I did not take any photographs, but did record some Flip video which (along with all our other videos from all of September and October 1st/2nd) will hopefully be processed and online soon.

Touring Mileage

Our new Touring has the same saize footprint than the sedan version of the Hyundai Elantra, but it's still a bigger motor and heavier car than we previously owned.  So my wife's biggest concern about buying it was how much our mileage would decrease.

On Saturday we drove from Newport to Eugene, needlessly filling the tank for the first time before leaving Newport to be able to check our mileage on the drive home.

(Arriving in Eugene, we were tired enough that we waited until Sunday to fill up the tank again, so there are also about 12 miles of driving around Eugene.)

The Touring drove 107.1 miles on 2.927 gallons, which is 36.6 miles per gallon.  Nearly identical to how our Saturn SL2 made that drive a few weeks earlier with 37 miles per gallon.

The Saturn SL2 would normally give us 30 to 31 miles per gallon for our normal day-to-day driving.  Next time we buy gas we'll learn the equivalent for the Touring.

Pear Picking, This Year and Last

It is amazing how much Smiley's face changes, without my noticing, as he grows older.

August 27th of this year:



August 27th of last year:

October Calm

Whew.  September is done!

Our old car was dying rapidly, and now we have a new car.

All Summer long I've had a sinus infection, which is not cured but is much, much better.

In early August my wife's family purchased a home very near to us, and a lot of this Summer was spent helping them get the house set up.  Happy 70th birthday, Grandpa!



Now my wife's parents are back in California until April; her father is not quite retired yet.  But her brother is a new neighbor and looking for a job. Here he is at our Sukkot gathering, when about thirty people were in our back yard.



My brother visited in mid-September, back in the U.S. after spending quite a long time in Thailand.  His visit was delightful even if it was a bit strange for me to be hosting a guest while unable to sleep.  (He was gracious with my medicated oddity of barely sleeping for three days and then crashing.)



In September my family visited Newport twice.  Smiley loves the beach, the Aquarium, and the Hatfield Science Center.  And the hotel pool and hot tub.



(Lots of other photographs in our Picasa album.)

Now it is October.  All those September issues are done.  Fall term has started at LCC, and my math class appears to have interesting students.  Life is getting calm again.  Yay!

New Car - Hyundai Elantra Touring

In early September I wrote about needing a new car.  By the end of the month the noise made by the faulty connecting rod bearing in our Saturn SL2 was increasing so badly we were afraid to drive it unless absolutely necessary.  We traded it in to the dealer, and purchased a new car.

We were looking at the Honda Fit and the Hyundai Elantra Touring, and decided upon the latter.

The deciding factor was actually comparing cargo space side-by-side.  We packed up our Saturn as we normally do for car camping or driving to visit family in California.







Then we drove to the Hyundai dealer, borrowed the Touring, and loaded it up with our stuff. If we put the sleeping bags in the back seat foot well, then everything fit without totally blocking rear visibility and allowing for two car seats in the back seat(since we hope to have another child soon, God willing).



Then we drove the Touring to the Honda dealer, to compare the back storage space side-by-side.  Notice the three round beverage coolers don't fit.



The comparison was decisive, and more visibly apparent if we put in less stuff. The Honda Fit could not fit a large cooler aligned lengthwise with the car. A cooler that size had to be positioned sideways.



But the Touring could do this, with room to spare.



As a family's second car the Fit might be a wise choice.  But we did not think we could comfortably camp or drive to visit family in California with the Fit.

Tangentially, I have no idea how the Honda Fit and Hyundai Elantra Touring were given official ratings with such similar cargo space (20 and 24 cubic feet, respectively).  Looking at the cargo space side-by-side is dramatic.

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How much will the larger Elantra cost us?  We cannot say for sure, but the answer seems to be "not much".

Although my wife and I obviously cannot predict gasoline prices for the next decade, nor the expected repair costs for years eight, nine, and ten of owning a Honda Fit, we did our best with a ballpark estimate and found that the smaller car was only about $4,000 less expensive to own for a decade.

Initial Purchase: With the power of Costco pricing and then ruthless bargaining, we negotiated both car dealerships to below invoice price.  The end result was that the Touring cost $750 more than the Fit.

Extended Warranties: The Touring's bumper-to-bumper extended warranty costs $1,800 and brings the coverage to 10 years.  The Fit's costs $1,290 for seven years.

Insurance: With our good driving records, over ten years the Touring would cost $1,800 more than the Fit to insure.

Gasoline: Using 11,000 miles per year and $3.20 per gallon, we estimate that over ten years the Touring would cost $2,730 more than the Fit (23 versus 28 mpg).

Repairs: What would annual repair costs be for years 8, 9, and 10 for the Fit?  A wild guess is about $500 per year, so the Touring saves $1,500 over ten years.

So the Touring costs $400 more per year.  (We ignore depreciation, since we always drive our cars until they die instead of selling them used.)  That's a reasonable cost for having twenty more horsepower, traction control, three more years warranty, spaciously wide seating with a nice arm rests, and another half inch between the front of a forward-facing car seat and the back of the front seats--without even considering how it frees us from needing to purchase airline tickets to visit family each year.

My only remaining question is why so many people in Eugene own a Subaru Outback.  Do that many people really use all-wheel drive and the extra cargo space?  It just doesn't compare to the Touring for mileage, warranty, or reliability.  If you're not really big on camping, why pay more?

The Sinus Infection of Summer 2010

Back in August I wrote about trying a mild drug to help myself sleep better, which did not work.

Sadly, that was not the only recent story of a medication that failed to help me.  This past Summer has been needlessly miserable, with nearly constant sinus congestion and headache.  Six weeks ago I decided it must be a sinus infection, since the allergy season was long gone.  It was, and I should have had it dealt with more promptly.

I spent two weeks apiece taking Cefalexin (Keflex) and then Co-trimoxazole (Septra).  Those are comparatively mild antibiotics with minimal side effects (of which I suffered none), and good choices to start with.  But neither was strong enough.  My left sinus was so inflamed I could barely breathe through it, and must have been an ideal home for bacteria.  With the second antibiotic I also used Flonase spray, but with so little airflow it did not help.

Two weeks ago I moved up to the "big guns".  The antibiotic, Co-amoxiclav (Augmentin), causes me dyspepsia most days, but seems to be working.  I also took Prednisone for a few days, which did succeed in finally reducing the inflammation. Goodness that's a nasty steroid: the first two nights I slept three and then five hours.  Fortunately, I avoided the "become grouchy" side effect, but was really wired for three days and then crashed hard.

All that and my sinuses are still a bit congested and inflamed.  So tomorrow I'll call the doctor yet again.

At least the success of the past two weeks means there is no risk of needing surgery, which I have heard happens in rare cases when the inflammation becomes so established that steroids no longer cure it.  In the meanwhile, I should look at yogurt company stock, since I'm eating so much to keep my stomach pains down.

Skyping Goodnight to Dancing Nathen

Whew.  The past three weeks have been hectic, which is why I have not been blogging.

But something tonight was too cute to not record for posterity.

Smiley and I were ready to start his bedtime routines, and sitting on the love-seat.  I decided to check Skype to see if Grandma Gwyn was at her computer, since it would be nice to say goodnight to her.  She was not, but Dancing Nathen was.  We had not talked to him in several days, because we were vacationing in Newport from Thursday through Saturday.

I asked Smiley, "What do you want to tell Dancing Nathen?  You tell me and I'll type the words."

He replied, "Downtown is by the fire station and the bus station. And the bus stop too."

Not exactly typical goodnight wishes, but I typed that.  Then I asked, "What else do you want to tell him?"

He said, "Downtown is by the library and the fire station and the bus station and the bus stop."

I said, "We already told him about downtown.  Why don't you tell him about Newport?"

He said, and I typed, "Newport has so many things. A kitchen, a shower, and a bathroom! And a sink. And another sink. It has a sink, and another sink, and another sink."

I think the first two sinks were part of the cottage we stayed at, part of the Waves Hotel, which is an affordable way for someone who has to cook all their own meals to visit Newport after Labor Day.  The other three sinks are probably ones at the Aquarium and the Hatfield Science Center.  Hours of playing at the touch tanks meant that Smiley also did a lot of fun hand wash.

Happy New Year!

Happy High Holy Days!

L'shanah tovah tikatev(i) v'taihatem(i)!

This traditional Hebrew greeting for the High Holy Days means "For a good year may you be inscribed as sealed." The alternate (i) endings are the grammatical form used when addressing women.

Honda Cargo Space

Sadly, our Saturn SL2 is on its last legs.  The repairs done last December were shoddy, and now the connecting rod is being slowly worn down by a bad connecting rod bearing.  The car might last another year or two, but only if we avoid long freeway trips.

(The faulty repairs are not the subject of this post, but are a source of headache.  Despite the wording of the repair work's written warranty, the company at this point refuses to pay for new repairs unless we get the car to their location.  This past week we had our local mechanic go into the engine to confirm the source of the increasing noisiness.  He took some digital photographs, and wrote a detailed invoice.  Perhaps those will be sufficient.)

However, we need long freeway trips to drive to Southern California each year to visit family.  So it's time shop for a new car.

We want good gas mileage since we do take at least one long trip each year.  We also want cargo space, since we like camping.  What cars do both well?

First, a baseline.  Our current car has 12.1 cubic feet of trunk space.  When we go camping we fill this and also half of the back seat.  Yes, that's a lot of camping stuff.  But we bring firewood.  Since we hope, God willing, to have a second child then we need at least 20 cubic feet of cargo space when all four seats are used.  This car also means we are used to 31 city miles per gallon at 124 horsepower.  Finally, we consistently drive about 10,000 miles each year.

An obvious first vehicular candidate is the Honda Fit, which is beloved by all sorts of automotive rating magazines.  It does have 20 cubic feet of cargo space.  It also has 28 city miles per gallon at 117 horsepower, comparable to our current car.  Paying $110 per year more for gas is acceptable.

Similar to the Fit is the Hyundai Elantra Touring, with 24 cubic feet of cargo space.  It provides 138 horsepower, but at 23 city miles per gallon.  That would mean paying $250 per year for gas more than if we used the Fit--perhaps worthwhile if the larger engine was of practical benefit, which we doubt considering our driving needs.

Would moving to the larger Honda Element help us?  Surprisingly, no.  Cargo space only increases to 25 cubic feet, whereas city mileage decreases to 20.  We don't need 166 horsepower or an interior that can be hosed off to clean (or all-wheel-drive at the cost of only 18 city mpg).  An extra $450 per year for gas beyond what the Fit would cost is a deal-breaker ($630 for all-wheel-drive).  Similarly, the Toyota RAV4 would be fun for camping but lacks the gas mileage we want because of our long trips.

How about the Honda CR-V?  No.  Cargo space shoots up to 35 cubic feet, but mileage goes down to 21 city miles per gallon.  Again, it is not worth $380 per year for gas beyond what the Fit would cost.

Surprisingly, those five vehicles are all on our list.  Everything else we have investigated lacks the safety, reliability, or above-mentioned mileage or cargo space.  We might be overlooking good options, however.  Please help us!

We'll probably have a 2" trailer hitch installed for one of these cargo racks.  (With our steep driveway we would need a rack whose bar goes up towards the back.)  That is comparatively inexpensive, and will provide a lot of camping cargo space.

We were already talking about using a trailer hitch cargo rack next summer.  I had plans to build a "kitchen cabinet" that would attach to the cargo rack.  It would give us both cupboard space underneath and a gluten-free cooking surface.  During the Winter we could store most of our camping equipment inside, so that it would not take up much more garage space than we have already devoted to camping.

Perhaps we are overlooking other good options.  For example, with both a roof rack and trailer hitch cargo rack the Honda Insight might satisfy all of our criteria, although it does score lower for reliability and is less praised by automotive magazines than the Fit.  (Other hybrid cars sacrifice too much trunk space for the battery.)

Fidelity's Free Investment Searches

Wondering what to invest?

(We probably should be.  The market is down now, but November's election news will probably restore some business confidence.  This month will likely be a good time for the "buy low" half of that saying.)

Fidelity offers nice searches to find proven funds and industry favorite stocks.

The links above use my personal, favorite criteria.  I like funds that are well-rated by Morningstar, have demonstrated sound ten-year growth, and a low expense ratio.  For stocks, I simply picked what I consider the most meaningful measurement of return (both 3- and 5-year annualized), profit (profit margin), earnings (yield), growth (5-year book value growth), value (price per cash flow ratio), and flexibility (cash on hand).  I also make the chart list industry and company size but not in a manner that affects the search.

Enjoy fiddling with a big database!

August Firsts

This month has had a lot of "firsts" for Smiley.  Most are not developmental milestones, but just the first time we let him do something.

(In July I twice wrote about his firsts.  He continues to improve with the laptop touchpad, and can now play AlphaBricks by himself.)

On Friday the 13th he first pushed and steered an adult-sized shopping cart.  It was the smaller size cart of the two that Market of Choice uses, but it was still funny to watch since he had to look through the cart to steer, which limited our use of the cart to carry groceries.

The next day he was allowed to use scissors for the first time, and then in the afternoon learned to use the "stepping stones" at Skinner Butte park.  He had first tried these in late July.  But on August 14th he learned how to do these by himself.  First he learned not to hold my hand, but still needed me to push the next step closer to him.  Then he was able to do it independently.

The next day he held our guinea pig, Boo, by himself while in the back yard.

The next weekend he ate his first hot dog on Sunday, in front of the Eugene Jerry's Hardware store.  I had to get him a hot dog with no bun, or he would have only wanted the bread.

Then the next day, the 23rd, we needed something to do in the late afternoon on a hot day to avoid a too-short nap (that would have left him barely rested and still cranky, but also staying up late).  So I took him to Prince Puckler's and he ate his first ice cream sundae.  I should have brought the Flip, since it was very funny watching him eat such a treat while nearly falling asleep.

Later that Monday he did some interesting blending of themes with his pretending.  Using his play kitchen food and a ziploc bag he packed Mommy an "airplane lunch".  I'm not sure where he got that concept, since we sometimes talk about airplane travelers using suitcases but not packed lunches.

The next day he helped me marinate zucchini before grilling them.  He liked using the paintbrush and olive oil.

Friday his interest in Goliath returned with a surge of wanting to "fight", so I introduced him to using pipes outside to sword fight.  He's much to little for the Four Rules, so the game at this point is only hitting my pipe with his.

Eugene Celebration Weekend

This weekend is Eugene Celebration.  Lots of fun things to listen to and do!  Free things for kids!

Don't Cross Beams!

Heh.  This month two different companies attempt to blur the distinction between phones and the internet in two very different ways.

Google releases and update that allows Gmail to make phone calls.

Dell releases the Streak, an Android device halfway between a tablet computer and a phone.

I expect that in the long run both approaches will work.  Two decades from now no one will carry a distinct cell phone, instead carrying something roughly Streak-sized that browses the web and uses that browser interface to do video chat, voice calls, and text messages.