Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Book Review: Dragonlance Lost Histories Vol II: The Irda

 


The Irda, published in 1995, is the second volume in the Dragonlance Lost Histories series. The series tells the origins of the various races on Krynn, the mythical world established in the Chronicles novels back in the mid-1980s. This one tells the story of the Irda, a race of Ogres who were not corrupted by evil into the creatures described in the Chronicles and Legends novels. The Irda are a group of Ogres who left the clan system the species had lived in, which had become corrupted by greed and lust for power. 

The book was only published as a mass-market paperback. The book is 312 pages long. The first 301 pages comprise the Irda story, and the rest contain the first chapter of the novel Dragons of the Summer Flame, which continued the storylines from the Chronicles and Legends trilogies. The book has a good mix of action and dramatic elements. There are also some romantic elements, but those are not really at the forefront of the story. I would describe the story as okay, but if it had included more of what was spelled out on the back cover, specifically the corruption of the Ogres by Takhisis, it would have been better. Ultimately, the story is okay, but it is not one of the novels in the Dragonlance universe that I would categorize as a must-read.  

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