Tuesday JUNE 8th 2021
FCOL: I sent them the Fed DN-plus and the Small aux cruiser.
F&E: I boiled all of the rules and rulings into 9 pages of corrections for the four products. I downloaded the fix list for SO. I worked on the F&E Master Index.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, June 11, 2021 - 05:52 pm: Edit

Wednesday JUNE 9th 2021
FCOL: I sent them the Fed ECL and DWD
F&E-SO: I finished the fixes to SO except for a few items sent to the staff for review.
Newsletter: I realized I had never done it (busy with F&E) and send Simone the stuff and scrambled to find something for the giveaways. I found two ACTASF destroyers already in the file and did a Fed cruiser that somebody wanted.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, June 11, 2021 - 05:52 pm: Edit

Thursday JUNE 10th 2021
Wolf was at the office all day because we needed extra security.
ACTASFR1: Simone came by to do the cover.
FCOL: I sent them the large and small troop transports.
Newsletter: I updated the new SFB ship, send those and the new ACTA ship to Simone. I sent Simone THE BIG NEWS.
SFB R4T: The solution to the problem Steve Petrick has been having with the R4T escort tables was tested to see if it would actually work.
F&E-SO: I sent the SO-Stage-3 rulebook and the list of things I fixed and still need input on to the staff.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, June 11, 2021 - 05:52 pm: Edit

Friday JUNE 11th 2021
Whom the Gods would destroy they first convince to make specific predictions about the release dates of products that aren’t finished yet.
Wolf was at the office all day because we needed extra security.
FCOL: I sent them two Frax DW variants.
F&E-CO: Worked on the fix list.
We officially made the reservations for the Stratcon-2021 banquet, but you guys need to tell us the fourth meat (pork, pulled pork, sausage, or ham) as soon as you can.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, June 17, 2021 - 11:21 am: Edit

Saturday JUNE 12th 2021
FCOL: I sent them the Gorn DDW and had them check to see what other Gorns they need.
F&E-WB: I sent a memo to the staff about getting the Q&A files processed. Several pages got done but 89 pages remain.
SFB R4T: I tried again to create a new format fighter/escort table for Petrick so he could finish that book. I gave him all 12 tables to proofread.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, June 17, 2021 - 11:22 am: Edit

Sunday JUNE 13th 2021
FCOL: I sent them two small Klingons. (I ran out of jpgs ready to go and don’t have time to create batches while doing F&E updates so I do two at a time.)
F&E-WB: Ryan cleared four more pages of the Q&A list (84 left). Turtle cleared a page (83).
F&E-CO: I finished the stage 3 revision of this book and sent it to the staff.
SFB R4T: I updated the escort-fighter tables for this product. I sent Petrick more art to replace art corrupted when he got a new computer.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, June 17, 2021 - 11:23 am: Edit

Monday JUNE 14th 2021
FCOL: I sent them two Lyran ships and got two LDR ships ready for Tuesday.
F&E-WB: Ryan cleared four more pages (down to 80). I sent him four more and set up the next six to have them ready. Mike Curtis cleared two pages (79 to go).
F&E-PO: I worked on the format stuff Jean found wrong two weeks ago.
SFB R4T: I tried (successfully this time) to get Petrick the missing charts and art.
DOCTOR’S APPOINTMENT: Took up most of the afternoon but I needed my arm looked at and I got a good report. Blood pressure is 116/70 and A1C is 5.9 which is good. Then, I had to run back and forth between two of Leanna’s doctors to get paperwork done.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, June 17, 2021 - 11:23 am: Edit

Tuesday JUNE 15th 2021
Newsletter: We checked it, discussed it during the staff meeting, and released it.
FCOL: I sent them two LDR ships. Democratic Tuesday, one might say.
ACTASFR1: I built the PDF and gave it to Leanna and Jean for upload.
SFB-R4T: Leanna reported that she and Steve Petrick had successfully built the updated rulebook file.
F&E-WB: I sorted out some reports on AO and CO so they’ll be there when I get there. Mike Curtis cleared blocks 23 and 24. I sent him 25 and 26. That leaves 77 of the original 100 blocks.
F&E-PO: I gathered all of the reports (12 pages) and did 314 raids before I had to stop momentarily and do other things.
STAFF MEETING: R4T, ACTASFR1, Stratcon.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, June 17, 2021 - 11:23 am: Edit

Wednesday JUNE 16th 2021
FCOL: I sent them two ships, a Rom and a Polar.
F&E-WB: Mike Curtis cleared blocks 25 and 26 of the massive Q&A list. I sent him 27 and 28. The file I down to 76 pages (and will take a month or more to finish). I qued up 29-33 to have them ready for the next staffer who does a block. Then I sent Mike 29 just because, well, of course I did.’ Mike outdid himself, processing 27, 28, and 29. I sent him 30, 31, and 32. That leaves 74 pages.
F&E-PO: I finished the fixes and sent the stage 3 draft to the staff.
A guy named Matt Amenda called with a new RPG he calls Hard Boiled (a film noir detective game set in 2040). While we were not the place for him to publish the game, I told him a lot about DriveThru and how to market the game there and he seemed excited for his prospects. Who knows, maybe he has the next big RPG concept and I opened the door for his success? I did tell him to do a trek version and call me back. He sent a nice thank-you note for the advice.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - 06:43 pm: Edit

Thursday JUNE 17th 2021
FCOL: I sent them two Romulan OmniHawks.
F&E-WB: I worked all day on AO and got six of the eight pages of reports done.
Nice phone chat with a guy who just discovered we never went out of business.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - 06:44 pm: Edit

Friday JUNE 18th 2021
FCOL: I sent them the Frax CCX and the Fed CK.
F&E-WB: Mike cleaned blocks 30, 31, and 32. I sent him 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37. Down to 70 pages. I got 38, 39, and 40 done an in the email file to have them ready for the next open staffer.
F&E-AO: After doing email and such I got started just a minute before lunchtime and finished by 3pm.
F&E-CO: I started making the corrections Steve Petrick and Chuck Strong marked.
F&E-TO: I met with Steve Petrick and Chuck Strong to select the contents of Tactical Operations so the staff can get busy finishing it.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - 06:44 pm: Edit

Saturday JUNE 19th 2021
FCOL: I sent them the Tholian CWS and Pinwheel.
F&E-WB: I did some BBS stuff this morning before leaving home. Chuck was up most of the night reviewing the four books and cross checking them. I got CO and AO to stage 4.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - 06:44 pm: Edit

Sunday JUNE 20th 2021
FCOL: I sent them the Tholian PWL and PWE.
F&E-WB: Finished StratOps Stage 4. Chuck moved over to Stratcon which officially started. I met some of the guys for lunch.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - 06:45 pm: Edit

Monday JUNE 21st 2021
FCOL: I sent them the Tholian PWS and PWP.
F&E-WB: Reaching the point of exhaustion, I took the day off and watched Aquaman (which is great).

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - 06:45 pm: Edit

Tueday JUNE 22nd 2021
FCOL: I sent them the Tholian PWW and PWV.
F&E-WB: I went to Stratcon, met the gang, and they gave me marked-up books to fix including AO3. I only had time to update AO and not all of that. Just too many marks on too many pages.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - 06:46 pm: Edit

Wednesday JUNE 23rd 2021
Overall, a frustrating day. I couldn’t get any sleep so I didn’t get to work on time, then I had five interruptions before I finally got to the F&E books at 2pm, but they went surprisingly quickly.
The great guys at PhoneMedic cured my phone of the nasty virus some criminal sent me. (I hit delete but my thumb must have slipped over into the "download" thing.) That criminal had sent me 200 phone messages in two weeks trying to get me to download that thing.
FCOL: I sent them the Tholian PDS and PDV. I resent a file I had mis-sized yesterday.
F&E-WB: I pulled the most updated copies of 527, 530, 531, and 549 and put them into the F&E Warbook Annex document. From this point forward, all reports on those four rules will be processed only in the Warbook Annex and whenever a book is published which includes those rules it will be copied from the Warbook Annex moments before printing.
F&E-PO: I updated this with all of the (valid) marks and all of the (intelligible) BBS reports. I did the global BATS to BTS fix.
F&E-SO: I checked the changes from Block 3 to Block 4; all were made correctly. I made the few fixes marked in the Block 4 book and the few on the BBS but did not print a new book. Just not enough changes to be worth the bother.
F&E-CO: The last of today’s three projects due to the luck of where it landed on the conference table, this one was somewhat more of a mess (not least because Chuck allowed an actual lawyer to read it).

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - 06:46 pm: Edit

Thursday JUNE 24th 2021
FCOL: I sent them two versions of the Fed HDW, but it turned out they already had those.
STRATCON: We had lunch at the famous Big Texan Steak Ranch with the Stratcon crew. Wolf Sexton finished the 72-ounce steak in just under 43 minutes. That night, we held the Stratcon banquet, which we hope will convince the guys to return to Amarillo next year.
F&E-CO: I fixed 400 before lunch but had non-F&E things to do that consumed the afternoon.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - 06:47 pm: Edit

Friday JUNE 25th 2021
FCOL: I sent them four Fed plasma ships.
STRATCON: Lar Bergen and Joe Stevenson toured the office.
F&E-WB: I formally wrote the 550 Unbreakable Groups rule and put it into the Warbook Annex with 527, 530, 531, and 549. Chuck Strong let me know that we already had the "missing" support echelon definition rule in the basic set (302.563).
F&E-CO: I make the marked changes to CO and rejected a suggestion to change the reserve capital IGCEs (which are limited to one role) into free IGCEs that would make capitals harder to crack. I finished the marks on the STAGE FOUR copy and all of the BBS stuff. I pdfed 100 at 4:32, 300 at 4:33, 400 at 4:34, 500 at 4:36, 600 at 4:37, and 700 at 4:38, much less time than previous updates because all of the bad codes that crash Acrobat are gone. Printing took only five minutes.
F&E-AO: I cleaned out the 17 June topic.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - 06:47 pm: Edit

Saturday JUNE 26th 2021
FCOL: I sent them two Frax ships and warned them I would not send more for several days.
F&E-WB: I completed the update of AO and we had a nice chat at the Stratcon closing ceremony.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - 06:48 pm: Edit

Sunday JUNE 27th 2021
F&E: I got up at 6am, took Luftoberst Strong to the airport, went to the office to email him the block 4.5 version of PO, then went home and crashed.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - 06:48 pm: Edit

Monday JUNE 28th 2021
Exhausted, I took the day off and binge watched DEPARTURE (which was brilliantly written).

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - 06:49 pm: Edit

Tuesday JUNE 29th 2021
I got to the office earlier than usual (9:20) and cleaned out days of email.
FCOL: I sent them the Klingon F5E and F5D for last Sunday. I sent them the Lyran and LDR Aux Cruisers for Monday. I sent them the Romulan SKE and SKF for today.
I got Lar Bergen’s unofficial Fed DN-Tug sent to Petrick for review for the newsletter. Petrick approved it as an "unofficial" ship.
F&E-WB: I finished Block 5 Planetary Ops and emailed it to the staff. I tried to hunt down email addresses for the others who were at Stratcon. I gave Jean a few sample pages so she could identify systemic issues I need to fix over the next 7 days.
STAFF MEETING: Stratcon after action. Product release plans. F&E revision proofreading.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 - 06:49 pm: Edit

Wednesday JUNE 30th 2021
FCOL: I sent them the Tholian PDD and PDD+. I got two Lyrans ready for tomorrow.
F&E-WB: I worked on stuff for Simone to add to the Warbook Annex page on line. I sent her the table of contents, index, sequence of play, repeated rules document, and which-where chart.
Today was pineapple day, something that happens to bariatric patients now and then. (I get it about every three months.) It feels like a pineapple is slowing moving through your system (it hurts a lot) but it does eventually come to an end.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, July 02, 2021 - 05:37 pm: Edit

Thursday JULY 1st 2021
FCOL: I sent them the Lyran and LDR heavy frigates.
F&E-WB: Met with Jean to review fixes needed for Planetary Ops. I worked on the F&E Warbook Annex but lost most of the day to taking Leanna to a doctor’s appointment. Leanna will have major spine surgery in August or September and will probably have to retire at that point. I did send PO to the Stratcon Six.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, July 02, 2021 - 05:37 pm: Edit

Friday JULY 2nd 2021
FCOL: I sent them the Tholian PDE and PDP.
F&E-WB: I got as far as I could with the F&E Supplement of Useful lists and charts and sent it to Simone and the staff.