Daddydavek

Nothing like getting to show the family how to make a grand entrance! Nice little chapter which I suspect is a bridge to the real meat when Granger gets his orders from the Admiralty. More please!

Our heroes sound like a couple of keepers! Trying to be thoughtful and succeeding! More please when your schedule permits!

JP has the gravitas and experience to handle situations. Will is starting to get a better understanding of his relationship with Zach and Zach is growing up. Wally and Clara really don't stand a chance. Matt and Wade are moving on and it seems Matt is beginning to realize how big a change he is going through. The comment about hockey was revealing. More please!

WTF? Griffin was the last person I expected to arrive at Barrington's door. Now you really have me and I'm not very comfortable right now.....

As a parent, I don't find it shocking it all that parents are oblivious. Most of us want to believe our little darlings are as pure as snow and often won't believe something bad about them unless it is officially noted somewhere. (Like getting that call from the police department at 1:00 in the morning.....)

Read and just added the story to ones I follow. Could it be?

Plenty of tears and heartache for a 15 year old. The call to Cody sure got Zach's attention. The ending with JP showing up was a godsend. More please!

Now that is what I would call a shake-down cruise! Stunning news that the Valiant's strength made her a stormy weather fighter! More please!

No one want to put something out that on reflection comes off as a hack job. As far as Mark Arbour being able to be so much more productive, I don't think his beta readers and editor could handle much more.......

Congrats Thorn!

What's to say the hotshot agent caught the scuttlebutt from talking to the kids at his school? At any rate, Will is out and clearly the young scion of an extended family that is publicly lead by gay men. I don't see it as any great leap that the agent recommended Zach limit his public contact with them.

I think that Will after this last chapter is in a really terrible place. His dad has just unloaded all his problems on him and he the judgmental child had to console the dad. Matt is also in a terrible place. He had his anchor in life built around his relationship with Wade and now that not only seems in jeopardy, but perhaps irretrievably broken. Zach is also in a bad place. He can't be gay publicly and to associate with the very publicly gay Will and also Matt is not a good thing. It looks like their trip will be cancelled unless they go someplace really remote and away from everyone. With all the factors these individuals are already dealing with, sex may be a few minutes of fun followed by catastrophic results. If it was strictly a cost/benefits decision it would be a resounding NO. However, life does intervene and a situation could develop which finds the hormonally supercharged trio falling into bed together. Dealing with it later and the possible complications, both short-term and long-term is the cost. So my vote is NO but I suspect that our esteemed author may have already decided the conundrum this would create is too delicious to forego.

I came across an article today that may not make any sense to someone unfamiliar with baseball, but makes perfect sense to me. In essence the argument is made that baseball is all about the anticipation. But the author in the article cited does a much better job than I ever could: http://theweek.com/article/index/259600/yes-baseball-is-boring-thats-exactly-what-makes-it-so-great I would only add that the pace of the game allows the fans to interact more and perhaps this is why so many fathers and mothers treasure the times they take their kids to a ball game! http://theweek.com/article/index/259600/yes-baseball-is-boring-thats-exactly-what-makes-it-so-great Sports Yes, baseball is boring. That's exactly what makes it so great. The anticipation of waiting for something — anything — to happen makes baseball a tense, beautiful game Published April 9, 2014, at 8:43 AM Having a grand old time. Photo: (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Baseball is back and so, too, are the usual complaints that the sport is an interminable affair with little action save for the occasional angry waddle to the diamond by a red-faced manager eager to harangue an umpire. "Nation Already Sick of Baseball," The Onion joked last week. There's some merit to the argument that baseball isn't living up to its billing as America's favorite pastime. For the past 30 years pro football has been the nation's most beloved game; 35 percent of adults named it their favorite sport this year, more than twice as many as the 14 percent who picked baseball. Yet the explanation for that gap — that baseball is boring — is way off base. On the contrary, baseball is great specifically because nothing happens. Or more accurately, because nothing happens most of the time. First, let's dispel the myth that baseball is a pit of inaction. There are about 18 minutes of live play in an average baseball game, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis; there are only 11 minutes of action in a single football game. If baseball is boring because nothing happens, then football must be the sports equivalent of Waiting For Godot. Still, very little does happen in a baseball game. There's plenty of time devoted to pitchers standing idly on the mound and batters fiddling with their gloves. There are long bouts of dead space in every game, in every inning, in every at-bat. And you know what? I love it. I'm with Joe Posnanski, who remarked a few years ago that "many of us love baseball not in spite of these failings but because of them." All the excitement in a baseball game is immeasurably heightened by the pauses, the breaks in action fueling the anticipation of what's to come. Before the pitcher releases the ball, anything can happen. After he does — well, the batter often whiffs. Or he doesn't even swing. Maybe he grounds weakly to short, or bunts the ball into his foot and gives everyone a good laugh. The point is that the game is defined not by constant awe-inspiring moments, but rather by its dearth of them. That's what makes a towering grand slam, a walk-off hit, or a perfect game so incredible. Statistically, none of these things are supposed to happen with any kind of regularity. But they do happen. And when they do, you can't believe they did. The lack of action makes you appreciate pivotal moments all the more. There's nothing more tense than waiting on a pitch in a two-out, one-run game in the bottom of the ninth. One swing could tie the game. One swing could lose it. And that's the other thing about baseball. There's no time, only outs, leaving open endless possibilities for teams to come back and win, no matter how long the odds. Compare that to this most recent Super Bowl, which was utterly unwatchable after the first half. We all knew how it was going to end. And though Seattle didn't finish with the ball, games do often end with the leading team kneeling over and over again until time expires. Super exciting, right? That could never happen in baseball, with the winning team simply scratching their butts and loafing on the field, refusing to throw a pitch. Now that would be boring. Baseball is different and weird and therefore great. If not for baseball's quirks, poor Steve Bartman is still some faceless dude and not Chicago's greatest villain since Al Capone. Instead, the Cubs, five outs from their first World Series in almost six decades, imploded. A 3-0 lead turned into an 8-3 hole, and the Cubs haven't been back to the NLCS since. Baseball can be cruel like that. The game's listlessness gave rise to those intense emotions. Each pitch held the possibility to move Chicago closer to or further from the World Series. The game was over, until it wasn't. Baseball leaves open the possibility for anything to happen on any play. Most of the time, nothing happens. But the sheer possibility that something might makes the sport transcendent.

Chapter 11 is up and is an emotionally charged chapter from beginning to end. Clearly Matt, Wade, Brad and Will are not in a good place to be yet and they have a lot left to process. The shadow of 9.11 is never far for them and then life intervenes and provides additional heartaches. I don't see any early resolution to much of what is tearing them apart and certainly not an easy one. Talk about volcanoes!

Wish I could "like" Timothy M's comment. The more I read this book of the saga, the more it seems that the title was well-chosen. More please!

George's luck seems to be holding! How long will that last? More Please!

stanollie Today, 07:35 AM (Chapter 10 Review) stanollie Another revealing chapter. One minor observation: Shaker Heights is no longer totally populated by snobs, only about fifty percent. Interesting observation about about now. But how about in 2002? I suspect that some of the fifty percent who are not snobs are wannabees and the rest got some incredible deals on short sales when homes were lost because the owners were underwater following the Great Recession.

I'm not sure about nice---but appreciative, certainly! And I have to say I don't know how they keep up either. Job well done! I appreciate all your work and hope you continue along with our esteemed author who seems to be maintaining his frenetic pace.

My takeaway from this chapter is that things are still pretty much fluxed up.... It did move the story along a bit. Will decides he needs to make nice with Zach's parents and decides he is hitching a ride with his dad. His attitude to his dad is beyond self-righteous however and considering his own foibles maybe just a tad less sympathetical than he expects from everyone else. Matt's explanation to Wade about the imbroglio caused by the hook-up between Brad-Wade and how he would react if it continued was neatly done and surprisingly insightful for Matt. The scene with JP calling both Matt and Wade to his office was fun. Brad has learned to hoist his father on his own petard effectively. More please!

Congrats KC!

Reply from Mark Arbour (author) Graduation as a happy time: my personal experiences are that it's actually an extremely stressful time. Usually it's surrounded by a lot of uncertainty, and a massive change in lifestyle. Different times, different experience. When I graduated, I took the federal civil service test (yes in the days when there was such a beast) and scored well so I had several job offers from departments as diverse as the IRS, VA and DOD. It was exciting. My youngest brother graduated in the mid-seventies and had offers from McDonnell-Douglas, Boeing, IBM and others to consider. My nephew who graduated in 2009 finished his Master in Civil Engineering and had offers from more than a couple of companies as well. While the job market is certainly a lot more problematic since the great recession, there are still majors that are competitively sought by companies. So while it might be somewhat stressful, I can't imagine that going from an undergraduate to graduate environment could be all that hightly stressful for these guys in their chosen majors. The stress would be in making the cross country moves and finding housing. With their money and Stef's help, I expect that will be less stressful than for the average joe without mega-millions.

I don't know why I keep hoping to learn something about Griffin......

Another exciting episode. And ouch! Rib injuries fucking hurt and for a long time! Matt has to deal with a lot of issues that are causing him pain too! Really, not a fun time for him or the rest of the characters. The grief and the loss of Robbie continues to haunt them even as they try to process their ongoing lives without him. And graduation is supposed to be such a happy time. Thanks for another riveting chapter. More please!

I am guessing that it's Dyson, Oliver, Benji and Alex, but who is the fifth?

I think most of the CAP fans are fascinated by volcanoes.