Category: Blog

Please tip the writer. Whatever amount you like. We are always short of cash. If you need essential oils, please get in touch-my wife is a rep for DoTerra. Let me know if you or someone you know needs web design/development-my rates aren’t bad, and I’m more than pretty good at it. Java/database/UI too. ThankYouVeryMuch!

All right-time to call this. Been one of those cycles-not unusual over Christmas. So tired of politics and crazy people. That includes the orange menace. At least the major part will be over in a few weeks. And legislation will get moved forward.

Friday evening (12/4). Time for bed. Sat. noon. Sat night, Sun. night. Monday morning. Monday evening. Tuesday morning-maybe I’ll write something today. Tuesday afternoon-no time yet. Wednesday evening. Thursday morning-so tired. Thursday evening-one of these days I’ll do this.

Ok, later Thursday. Doing a long-term photo cull, so time for a break. Same ‘ol-work, not work. My Gecho got shipped. Shopping, taking S to school. Not much else. Been chilly, not working out. Christmas is coming-E is shopping. Got a tree and a blow-up Santa for the back. Keeping the house tidy-vacuumed, bagging the budget. Doing my laundry and towels only.

Late Friday night-stayed up watching robot fighting and film clips. Pizza for dinner. Got all the work stuff done. Picked up M and got coffee. So, so exciting.

Next Friday. Pretty quiet week-running up to Christmas. Boat racing is back. Got my Gecho-it’s tiny and adorable-going to treat it as a Christmas gift to myself. Really need a case for my Kronos, but only when we move or I gig with it… Not much over last weekend-lazy, shop. Some stuff to do this weekend. Had a full night on the mask-kept waking up and going back to sleep. Not easy, this. Got some Ouzo, M got peppermint schnapps. And the electoral college confirmed Biden-no surprise there, but a lot of hoopla over an utterly boring and predictable thing. Next is the Congress approval. Again, utterly boring and predictable, except for this time. That and the cv-19 vaccine is out-I need to get a flu shot first.

Sunday evening. Time for closing up shop. Another typical weekend-tidied, cleaned on Sat. (with music and landscape videos), shop Sun.-got some nice wine. Running up to Christmas. Put up a huge chime E got. Talked to Mom. Binged some Rick & Morty last night. Slept in.

Saturday afternoon. Time to call this. Lazy day-still in pj’s, made rice late, slept in. Swept the kitchen, put away dishes. Bathrooms, then vacuum? Or laundry. E’s been bingeing Yellowstone-basically Dallasty with cows.

Thursday, late morning. Noon. Didn’t call it. Sort of busy working. Been pretty quiet here, not so much elsewhere. This is the odd part-most of the country/world is pretty quiet, but there are places that aren’t. At least one more ceremonial task is done. Again, a normally boring, utterly routine part of the transfer of power has been made exciting by morons and troublemakers. I’ll be glad when this is over. At least Georgia came through, so there’s a chance legislation will get a chance.

And I didn’t mention that Eddie Van Halen died when it happened. Yeah, sad, but not a surprise-it’s been quite a year for rock stars dying. I loved the music of the DLR era-saw them open for Black Sabbath in Cleveland, but never got into learning the guitar style-he was a master of the fill, overshadowed by all the flashy stuff.

Links/viddys-brighter side:

Please enjoy these ducks changing their minds. pic.twitter.com/v1jvCTNMmK

— Dick King-Smith HQ (@DickKingSmith) December 5, 2020

Not so bright: don’t even want to go there (especially now).

Page 23, sentence 5: no books read this cycle…

Please tip the writer. Whatever amount you like. We are always short of cash. If you need essential oils, please get in touch-my wife is a rep for DoTerra. Let me know if you or someone you know needs web design/development-my rates aren’t bad, and I’m more than pretty good at it. Java/database/UI too. ThankYouVeryMuch!

Well, it’s the start of December, and the shouting about the election isn’t over. Trump et alia is still whining, and failing at making a dent, other than riling up the base. Read an article about how Trump is peak camp, I don’t disagree, but he’s still damaging. Okay-trying to stay out of it until Jan 20th… Not much else-CV-19 is ongoing, everything is basically on pause until the vaccines are in distribution. Have my contract until April, so I can hang on, unlike a lot of people.

Election Day. Don’t really want to work. Cold, tired, it’s wet outside, and dark early, so I don’t really want to run either. E found a fitbit at the binz…pretty cool-we’ll see if it helps. Doesn’t do heart rate, which is what I really want.

Thursday afternoon. Just finished lunch, guys came to fix the bathroom shower pipes-meh job. Got my cpap-we’ll see how that goes. Don’t want to think about the elections.

Friday afternoon, trying to make progress. Now evening-need to run. It’s cold and wet and dark-never a good combination. Maybe I’ll jump rope instead. Got stuff done, though. One refactor to do. Not tonight. Wore the cpap last night-really not fun-panicked for a few minutes-it feels like you can’t breathe out. Got an hour in-just couldn’t get to sleep with it on-needed to get up this morning. Try again tonight-we’ll see.

Monday noon, so, so tired. I tried to get to sleep for 4 hours last night. Failed-dozed maybe once or twice. Just laid there thinking and listening to my breathing, adjusting the mask, turning over. Bagged running last night. Not much over the weekend-tidy Sat., switched bookshelves Sun.-got a few more books jammed in there. Most of Saturday was spent watching BBC News-they called Pennsylvania, and celebrations erupted worldwide-looks like the markets like it too-plus the speeches, and the whole Four Seasons thing.

Wednesday morning. Thursday afternoon. Later Thursday afternoon. Thursday evening. Friday morning. Friday afternoon. (Am I going to write anything today???) Nope. Monday morning. Start of sprint. Busy Friday, Quiet-ish weekend. Shop yesterday, laundry & tidy Sat. Mellow week too-mostly struggling to sleep with the cpap-just massive loss of sleep. I gave up after 2 hours last night. Changed to the bigger mask and that was better, shaved close, but it’s just so loud. I think I’ll try earplugs again. So, so hard. Got my contract renewed, though. Noon. I’m still not feeling well-M isn’t either.

Tuesday, end of work. E got a new keyboard for me-you can run it under a faucet. Rough, rough night last night. Decided to get to sleep, then put on the mask-instead didn’t get to sleep until 2, and woke up every time I dreamed. So 5 dreams listed. Blech. Going to reset my sleep schedule before trying the mask again.

Friday, in the scrum. Pretty quiet week. Finally slept OK last night-melatonin and valerian-woke up at 2 then right back to sleep until 7-dozed until 9-I’ll try the mask tonight. Neighbors across the way are moving out after 3-4 months-usually means the house purchase finally closed. The guys moved an upright piano. Got it down, but def. not a professional job-glad all I have is a synth and guitar stuff…and no stairs. Buy a case, roll it around-no problemo. Need to work on some projects-min list for a hasty departure, full personal and house inventories. Plus also bill pays, and maybe senior page and bio edits.

Tuesday morning. No bill pays, but bought a car on Saturday. S emptied out their room. Tried the nose thing-didn’t work. Still having trouble sleeping.

Wednesday afternoon-got the OK to quit early. Finishing up deployment and unit test coding. Got a Gecho yesterday…

Friday afternoon. Lazy day. Up super late last night, got up super late. M made beignets. Nice Thanksgiving-M and I cooked-everything came out well. Tidied, vacuumed, put stuff in the closet, S’s stuff in the hallway, watched crap movies. C and gf came over, both have to work today. Contemplating getting iPads for E and me.

And #diaperdon is trending on Twitter. No one is walking on eggshells any more.

Monday, start of sprint. No really motivated. Haven’t been exercising-contemplating going to Planet Fitness when it opens. Lack of sleep isn’t helping. A typical weekend-shop-Fubonn, Cost Plus, made chinese dinner Sat., watched Dune, more shop Sun. (E got a waffle iron, getting xmas presents) and struggle to get to sleep with the mask on-not easy…I think I’ll call this-been long enough.

Links/viddys-brighter side:

Behold, the cutest thing you'll see today. pic.twitter.com/o0GFG9462J

— Mental Floss (@mental_floss) November 12, 2020

Wait for it.. 💥

A 420 kg fireworks shell with a diameter of 1.2 meter..

🎥 YT: Masanori Honda pic.twitter.com/2PeMmqiC88

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden_) November 12, 2020

Not so bright: don’t even want to go there (especially now).

Page 23, sentence 5: (no reading this time).

Please tip the writer. Whatever amount you like. We are always short of cash. If you need essential oils, please get in touch-my wife is a rep for DoTerra. Let me know if you or someone you know needs web design/development-my rates aren’t bad, and I’m more than pretty good at it. Java/database/UI too. ThankYouVeryMuch!

The day before the election. Woo-hoo. I’m done. I just deleted a big thing, but the last word is this: enough. Just go away. Stay gone, or you be gone. Hopefully they’ll get the hint. Hopefully we can make it through this winter intact. Or is it this? Hope not.

Friday afternoon, eating prior to a code review. Waiting on dba’s to do their job. Been waiting. For 2 days. I hate dba’s. F’n database high priests. Mainframe and database BS… Anyways-code review, almost time to be done.

And now it’s Monday morning, the stuff that needed to be done-one got done, the other is in process. Pretty mellow weekend-didn’t get to vacuuming, again, but laundry and the kitchen did. Lazed around Sat.-Costco was it, Sun.-E got a chair in Lake O, Sun. market, shop, Fry’s is empty, Sonic, got the furniture rearranged. Trump’s got the ‘rona-what a shitshow.

Weds., noon. No, afternoon. Almost time to be done. Had a zoom meeting with a doc-I’m getting a cpap. Should make E happy-hopefully I’ll end up sleeping better. Got some stuff done.

Friday-work week is done! Only a few minutes late. In good shape-got stuff done. I need to work out now. Not much else-forgot to make the car payment, so we’re short this week. I picked up all the stuff off the loveseat in the living room, so I can sit in here and chill. Watched Archer and Dodgeball. Maybe Snowpiercer tonight? or a movie? We’ll see.

A week has passed. Really very much the same. Been waking up at night a lot. Ambien? Melatonin and such helps me get to sleep, but I still wake up at 2ish. E tweaked her back. All of us voted yesterday when we got the ballots. Didn’t schedule meals this week. Getting carpets cleaned next week. Worked out Tues. but not Sun. Something this weekend? Who knows.

Monday, start of sprint meetings. At least I could sleep in a little. S didn’t get up in time for her Zoom class, because I didn’t wake her up. Pretty busy weekend-E to 2 marches Sat., shop Sun. C has a job, took him to gf’s house. Worked out yesterday but not Fri. Fixed my Stick last weekend-high strings don’t work-pickup, wiring or cable? Found mold in the corner, had to clean everything. With bleach. Picked up a lot and vacuumed-carpet cleaning tomorrow-more to do.

A week, it’s Thursday. Afternoon, time for lunch. A pretty quiet week, Worked out yesterday, skipped Sunday, carpet cleaning. Shopping, the usual. One of M’s co-workers got the ‘rona-he got tested yesterday. They’re pretty good with staying out of each others’ way, so we’ll see. The big thing is that I got blackmailed for naughty chat and pictures. So, I came clean to my wife, removed all the naughty stuff from my storage unit, phone and links, canceled all my accounts except the blackmailed ones-gotta keep the evidence… E wants me to go to SAA as well. I’ll try, but I have a strong mind and it may not be entirely necessary. I have discipline. If I can box that behavior, and keep it inside the box, I’m good-we’ll see. I called a investigation firm-$1,500 for them to work the case. Passed. So far, nothing has been released-it’s stressful, though.

I’ve been thinking about it, too-what power does a blackmailer have? Fear, mostly, and shame. And a short window. If they can get you to pay out quickly, they win. Otherwise the threats are hollow-and thus lies the dilemma-if they pull the trigger, no money-if they don’t, no money either, because they’ve lost the power of the threat because it didn’t work. You have to follow through, but you can’t because you won’t get paid if you do. And these guys are doing multiple prospects at once, so you have to pick the most promising mark. Most advisors say to ignore them once the threat is made. I don’t want to pull my FB account…but I may have to, or at least set it to private for a little bit. Same with twitter and google-not so easy…

Monday, new sprint. I think I’ll call this. M didn’t get the ‘rona. No blackmail. Checking on whether I get the contract renewed. Halloween was quiet, except I went to pick up C at his gf’s, and the church on the corner was going trunk or treating-\/\/hate\/er. S went to a friends’. Tidy, shop, the usual. DST switch, worked out, watched 2001 on Sat., and DRL in sim. Getting through my book backlog. Short of ca$h-I hate dipping into savings. Hopefully this next month will be better.

Links/viddys-brighter side:

Not so bright: don’t even want to go there (especially now).

Page 23, sentence 5: “On October 25, 1985, I sent the first copies to President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev of the Soviet Union.” PlanetHood.

Please tip the writer. Whatever amount you like. We are always short of cash. If you need essential oils, please get in touch-my wife is a rep for DoTerra. Let me know if you or someone you know needs web design/development-my rates aren’t bad, and I’m more than pretty good at it. Java/database/UI too. ThankYouVeryMuch!

Another blog post called. Called my exciting life? Not so much. The rest of the world is pretty busy, but all I have is work and family. Having said that, I think our country is like Wile E. Coyote, having just ran off the cliff, but gravity hasn’t caught up with him yet. I had this feeling a lot in the mid-90’s, but was always able to overcome the feeling, and it never happened. Now, who knows? I’m just waiting out everything and whether my contract ends. Not much else to say-I’ve said a lot already.

Friday early evening, long weekend! Still have some work to do, so still working. Out of $$$ this week. 7:30-still working. The dude who wrote this didn’t finish it, so I need to. We needed another task to get it into running order. 8:20, got the thing running, so done.

Sunday evening, sitting in bed. Yummy dinner, church and shop today. E to March yesterday. Not much else.

Tuesday morning, start of sprint. Woke up a couple of times last night, tired. Had an interesting dream about Keanu Reeves and symbols. Those symbol dreams are happening occasionally-I think it’s a look into symbol space-I need to figure out what it means… Very windy yesterday and today-there was a big tent at school that blew away last night-E went to check on it and found a mess. Vacuum, laundry yesterday, not much else.

Saturday afternoon. Sitting at the table, finishing up a change-wasn’t working, found the bug this morning, rerunning the task to make sure it does the right thing now. Anyways. So it’s been a week of fires. Portland has the worst air quality in the world. We have everything closed up, filters on the a/c, running the air purifier 24/7. The sun and sky are orange. We’re on a stage 1 evac, but the weather’s changing so I don’t think stage 2 will happen. The active fire zone is still 20ish miles away. My eyes and throat are burning and sore. You can still smell the smoke in here, but it’s much less than outside. And it’s oddly cool.

Got one of these in the mail Friday. It’s cool, easy to use and fun. More fun than the phone apps. Made a 8-bar loop, need to find some way to save it-Orba to Zoom to laptop? That’s the way I do it on the Kronos. I really need a 9mm adapter that’s TRRS…Radio Shack here I come. Wait-are there still Radio Shacks? (just checked-there’s one right down the street! sort of…)

Thursday afternoon. Running as fast as I can to get things done, but I’m not moving forward. (maybe a little, but still behind) The air quality still sucks, but the sky is clearing a little. Rain is coming. Busy with work, but that’s it. Stuck inside-same day, over and over. S might read Finnegan’s Wake. I think I’ll take another run at it after my latest read, which is super depressing so far… It’s an insanely difficult work.

Friday, early evening. End of sprint, but still stuff to do. Got one done, another done except the repo is whacked, and the last one almost done except for running it against AWS. Big thunderstorm last night, soaked the porch. Ruth Bader Ginsburg died today. That’s a kick in the nuts-E was bawling-glad she held out as long as this, as the GOP can’t push someone through at this late date-enough Senators will defect to make it impossible, and the same after the election. And even if it went through, Biden would likely pack the court to nullify the advantage, if he’s smart.

Monday, start of sprint. Slept in a bit. S’s first day of face-to-face school. Pretty quiet weekend-worked late Fri., lazy Sat.-E to RBG thing, a thing, picked her up. Sun. church, shop, workout! First in a month-went slow, shortened the route. Only lost strength on pull-ups-not surprising, it’s my weakest one. Was beat after that-only forgot a few t’ai chi moves, and we got through after a bit of thought. I’m only a little sore today.

Thursday morning, sitting at the kitchen table with S. Non-binary S. Not really motivated. Anyways. Another pretty normal week-worked out Tues. evening-M came with on the run. A bit faster, but still shortened-I worked harder than usual. Super weak and sore on pull-ups, only forgot one move in t’ai chi.

Monday, listening to the scrum. So exciting. OK. Quite tired. Need to go to sleep earlier. Pretty busy weekend. Got a bit done at work Friday. Ran later, it was dark when I got back. Drove around a lot Sat. E to rally on N, S to friends’ then Lloyd Center, then back to pick them up and to friends’. Gaffers for dinner + a drink and M with. I had a Myers, he had a Jack then peach schnapps. The Tigard Gaffers closed. Sun.-skipped church, lazy, shop then picked up S then lazy. Ran-very difficult-no lunch, then made dinner then worked out then ate. I think I’ll call this. Trump’s taxes got released-no real surprises…

Links/viddys-brighter side:

Bambi and Thumper

Not so bright: don’t even want to go there (especially now).

Page 23, sentence 5: “It’s a treat.” The Road.

Please tip the writer. Whatever amount you like. We are always short of cash. If you need essential oils, please get in touch-my wife is a rep for DoTerra. Let me know if you or someone you know needs web design/development-my rates aren’t bad, and I’m more than pretty good at it. Java/database/UI too. ThankYouVeryMuch!

I’ve been thinking about higher order stuff this blog interval. Not sure if anything will come of it. Had one of those “alien visitation” dreams too. Just wondering which paradigm is the right one (Steiner vs Bardo), and how we just can’t know for sure. Plus also “what’s the point” sort of thoughts. Think it’s part of the whole current shitshow we’re in. It’s hard to keep that sunny disposition when everything is dissolving. No worries-just gotta keep hanging on and saving money. Hopefully I can continue my contract or quickly find another one. Working remotely might be a plus…gotta get up to speed on React.

Does it matter how far you are, or where you have to go? No. You take this place as it is, and work your work the way you work it. As long as your awareness is clear, and you’re working on making progress, what happens is and is what happens. The Goal is the goal, and the Work is the work. Every pinnacle is the beginning of the next pinnacle. Seven inside one inside seven, forever. It’s school and not school, you learn and you bliss.

Okaaaay, that’s enough depth. Time to make music. While I’m still here. Recap: ran, worked out. M did t’ai chi. Slept OK, up 9ish. Morning, tidied, vacuumed. E & S & E-S to rally. E downtown.  M and I drank, plus. Up and up and up, forever.

Monday morning, start of sprint. Recorded a bunch of music Saturday night. M had a bit too much to drink, but did the proper prep to not get hungover-his meds magnified things a bit. Ran early yesterday, shopping in the afternoon. Pretty mellow otherwise.

Tuesday midday.  Was up late last night, so I bagged getting up early to run. It’s going to be 80° after work, so I’m debating whether to run after work or tomorrow morning.

Thursday morning. Listening to a Nat Geo thing on the ‘Rona. Ran after work on Tues. Not much else-Kamala Harris is the veep choice. Work, tidy, dishes and laundry, cooking, food shop Sat or Sun, workouts on the days-that’s really it. E goes out and shops, everyone else sits and plays on their devices. M works twice a week. I want to make more music, but… E put up a sheer curtain on the back porch-now it looks like fog or smoke.

Friday morning, in the stand-up. Glad it’s Friday-didn’t sleep well last night. I don’t think E did either. Got up early to run-going to be warm today. It was almost cold, but sunny and nice. Almost ran into 2 girls running on Fuller. Don’t feel great-maybe breakfast will help. We’ll see. Going to be super hot this weekend. Def. running early Sunday. Here’s a chart of my speed progression. Nice to have it upwards through almost 3 months.

A week, Sunday, late afternoon. On the bed, computing. Been playing a golf game on my phone a lot. chill Friday, finished some UI design stuff, one other issue is a conundrum. Mellow Sat., E went to protests, I picked up S, not much else. Forgot t’ai chi. Church, shopping, got a pull up bar and a cheap brew keg-want to make ginger beer-need yeast. Maybe I’ll get a concentrate and make regular beer too. Had lunch at a dim sum place by Wal-mart. Need to run when it gets cooler.

Monday, sprint planning day. Bailed on the run last night-dinner instead. E came to bed late-riots in Wisconsin-one guess why… Need to go over the budget and pay bills-slacked all last week.

Now Friday afternoon. E is at the freedom march. Pretty quiet week-not working out because of the heat-don’t want to get up early. Went to the ER on Tues. because of E’s kidney pain-the issue from last week disappeared and they don’t know what’s up with her pain. Paid bills, finished up my paper cranes, played my shakuhachi a little.

Monday afternoon. Busy getting stuff done. No shopping yesterday, no workouts either. It’s getting cooler, we switched to the heavier comforter. E went downtown for the fun Saturday, got a tattoo yesterday. I cleaned. S’s 13th birthday today, she’s getting a nose piercing. Mess with the right-wingers visiting our town. They caused a bunch of trouble, and no one is saying anything about it.

Wednesday, lunchtime. Trying to get stuff done before the end of sprint. Not much else-going to be hot, didn’t plan meals this week. Time to call this entry.

Links/viddys-brighter side:

Not so bright: don’t even want to go there (especially now).

Page 23, sentence 5: “The difference was one of perspective-the view from different frames of reference.” Einstein’s Clocks, Poincaré’s Maps.

Please tip the writer. Whatever amount you like. We are always short of cash. If you need essential oils, please get in touch-my wife is a rep for DoTerra. Let me know if you or someone you know needs web design/development-my rates aren’t bad, and I’m more than pretty good at it. Java/database/UI too. ThankYouVeryMuch!

So the old, fake Chinese curse-“hope you live in interesting times” is certainly applicable. And I’m pushing 60. Wonder how interesting my kids’ lives are going to be. Anyways, “it is what it is.” Such a lame phrase for the President to say. Just goes to show you. Read a Foreign Affairs article today about how we’re experiencing all 4 risks to democracy-gotta fix that, stat. So, like last time, my life is fairly quiet but the world isn’t. There was a huge explosion in Beirut, cv19 is flying along, there’s an election looming. Definitely interesting times. The thing is, all times are interesting times, so the fake curse has no teeth.

Saturday noon. Sitting on the back porch with coffee. Quiet week-work, tidy. E & S went downtown last night, came home early. Ran and worked out last night. Going to be hot next week, so maybe not then. Or maybe just indoors. Planning dinners. Oregon took my tax refund, but I don’t owe them anything! The feds, still have lots to go.

Sunday early evening. Quite hot, but a/c is keeping us cool-we have 2 units and fans distributing the cool air everywhere. Ran at 11 and it was too hot even then-maybe at 8 on Tuesday? Ugh. House is tidy. Blazed through the Earthseed books. Chilling, that dystopia, and closer than you think. Onto the next book. One left after that. Protests continue, with support from everywhere.

Wednesday noon. Busy working. Going to be hot today-glad I’m inside and we have a/c. Not much else going on-ran early yesterday and it worked out fine. Think I’ll do it Friday too. M is working for a few hours on Wednesdays.

Late Friday afternoon. End of sprint-trying to finish up the last bits. Everyone else is too, so I’m getting tugged around. I skipped a whole week, but not much is different. 59th birthday last Thursday-got some sleep shorts, and an Artiphon Orba for myself-I really want a Gecho, but the guy is on hiatus. Busy doing production support this week, but got my stuff done. E is still going to protests, but doesn’t have a lot of stamina. Been running early, but not today. It rained yesterday. Think I’m going to call it.

Links/viddys-brighter side:

Not so bright: don’t even want to go there (especially now).

Page 23, sentence 5: “She and Mrs. Sims were sugary sweet to each other.” Parable of the Sower, “But for nearly five months now, we’ve had no trouble while salvaging.” Parable of the Talents.

Please tip the writer. Whatever amount you like. We are always short of cash. If you need essential oils, please get in touch-my wife is a rep for DoTerra. Let me know if you or someone you know needs web design/development-my rates aren’t bad, and I’m more than pretty good at it. Java/database/UI too. ThankYouVeryMuch!

My birthday’s coming up-inching closer to 60. Odd, just odd. Def. don’t feel 60 most of the time. Much of everything else is the same-people are still in the streets-will this effect lasting change? Not certain yet. Didn’t the last time. It may cause the Orange Menace to be a one-term president, though, if the polling holds. It doesn’t look narrow this time, but it’s still just July-nothing matters except what happens in Nov… Seeing as we’re facing an ongoing pandemic, an economy reflecting that, and an administration with massive voids all the way through, prospects aren’t rosy, but it wouldn’t matter which party was in the White House. Anyways, my little life is OK-got work extended until after Thanksgiving… We’re in a safe place, and it’s OK!

Monday afternoon-time to stop work. Got a little done, but more to come. Pretty quiet weekend, no meal planning/shop, but vacuum/tidy and laundry, so not a waste. Good w/o’s, but no t’ai chi Fri. M worked Sat., he’s still sore. C is totally on a reverse schedule.

Tuesday afternoon, lunchtime! Got stuff done. Car is getting regular maintenance, they gave us a loaner. Trying to stay on top of keeping the house clean. S is eating our pie at random and all the ice cream as well. rrrrr. Not sure if I’ll get a run in today-been rainy. I’m definitely progressing-need to chart it.

Wednesday noon. Now 2. Now 5. Need to get this stuff finished by 5:30. Didn’t. Took ’til 7:30. Had to call the shop about the car too. I did get the run in-I’ve been using Strava to track them-pretty cool.

Friday afternoon. Hot. Time to be done with work. Ran, got almost done and strained my right adductor. Rrrrr. We get Friday dinner from a local place, and we were going to go to Mike’s, but it was slammed, so went to Roake’s. Just as yummy. The whole fam went. Having a delicious peanut butter cookie from Bob’s Red Mill.

Thursday night, bedtime. Quiet week, no meal planning. Still sore adductor. Have to redo something at work. Got ripped off for a Switch. Have a sleepy time tincture, so done.

Totally been slacking on this…and now July 13th. Maybe I’ll call this. Been same old. Couldn’t finish my run on Fri., slacked this weekend. Hopefully getting contract renewed for 4 more months. Been easing up on workouts. Still running decent pace-between 5 & 5 1/2 mph for a half hour. E’s back to going out every day. M is driving more, C is using our car from time to time. S has gone to 2 protests downtown. I’ve at least been keeping things tidy, doing laundry and dishes. Need to do taxes… There’s a comet out there. Played my guitar a few times.

Weds evening. Short of ca$h. Taxes are done-getting a refund! Woo-hoo! And M needs his wisdom teeth out. There goes the refund…plus I think they’ll probably take it for back taxes… Hot today-have the a/c on. Went up Mt. Scott with S to see the comet-no go. Have to go to the office tomorrow to return my old laptop-thing? (nothing)

Now next Tuesday. Been hot. Delivered the laptop, visited S’s teacher. Was sick Thurs-Sat. No workouts because of the heat and being sick. Went out to Beaverton to see the comet with M & S on Sat. night-it was pretty cool. Made horchata. E went to the protests-I took her and picked her up-thing! She went last night too. Had a hard time falling asleep too. I’m going to call this-a month tempo…

Links/viddys-brighter side:

this is penelope, she's a dandelion huntress
(viralhog) pic.twitter.com/lsYsslgc4B

— Humor And Animals (@humorandanimals) June 29, 2020

Deep breaths. Here is some #ThursdayAfternoon calming nature for you.
pic.twitter.com/Z4N1u3rBd4

— Sierra Club (@SierraClub) July 9, 2020

Good morning! Here is a video of a baby otter plopping into the water to join his mama 😍 pic.twitter.com/L4PbLD876F

— G will remain Heartbroken (@3005bear) July 12, 2020

Not so bright: don’t even want to go there (especially now).

Page 23, sentence 5: “He was bracingly clear-eyed about the New World project, and he seemed to understand better than any of his proto-American contemporaries the distorting power of wishful belief, how fantasy can trump fact.” Fantasyland.

Please tip the writer. Whatever amount you like. We are always short of cash. If you need essential oils, please get in touch-my wife is a rep for DoTerra. Let me know if you or someone you know needs web design/development-my rates aren’t bad, and I’m more than pretty good at it. Java/database/UI too. ThankYouVeryMuch!

Well, this is a long one, mostly because I haven’t been finalizing it regularly. I blame the lockdown. Anyways, it’s been uneventful in our household, but the human world is having a bit of a turn. No idea if this will mean lasting change, but there is certainly unrest. Cv19, plus protests equals unrest and uncertainty. Troubling politics and economic mayhem doesn’t help much. In any case, it’s scary and unsettling. I’m also getting close to my contract end, which makes me nervous.

Monday morning, start of a new sprint at work. Slept rather badly last night, didn’t want to get up…but I did. Achy back from working out. I’m in good shape, but also aging and don’t recover as quickly from things as when I was younger. Pretty quiet weekend, worked out, sold my Mirage, E got food, S was up late-starts school today.

Wednesday morning-time for coffee. Pretty quiet-a bit rainy, S is Zooming for school, not really motivated for w/o last night, worked late too. Sometimes feel oddly-disassociated, and sometimes like the walls are closing in. The house is staying pretty clean, and everything else is OK.

Sunday noon, time to think about lunch. Remote church, cleaned our bathroom. Pretty mellow-w/o Friday, tidied, laundry, vacuum Sat. Not much else…

Monday, noon. The days are sort of running into each other. Getting stuff done, but it’s not easy. Bailed on working out yesterday-had to pick up our food, and it didn’t go perfectly, so tired afterwards.

Wednesday, noon. The walls are closing in. There’s an old SF short story where that happens, but it’s because of no sleep rather than isolation. Went for a different run last evening with M-better, in some ways-that last hill is still tough, though. S wants to watch Coraline tonight. Now “sun over the yardarm”-having some gluhwein-got stuff done, but not deployed-that’s next.

Friday, work is done for the week. Mostly finished…I’ve been working late, so not tonight. It’s been wet and cool. Not much else going on. It’s a rent week, so short of $$$. We now have a cushion, and more once the gub’mint money gets here. I think I’ll wait until after August to do anything. Hopefully I’ll get an FTE or longer contract. Given that we’re in a massive uncertain spell, better to have savings and wait to see what happens before jumping into a house or some such. Read Snow Crash until late last night-on to The Diamond Age, then Cryptonomicon.

Wednesday noon, working. Yesterday was a mess-a complete loss as far as work goes. Good w/o, though, and fresh tortillas. Weekend was fine-quiet, shopping was about it. C’s birthday was on Monday. Trying to stay sane. Everyone is struggling.

Monday morning-ish. Tough sleep last night, achy legs, tired this morning. Mellow weekend, food shopping Sat., church, Mother’s Day, called my mom. Hot over the weekend, cooler now, good w/o’s. I don’t want to dwell on the outbreak or the election or anything else, especially here. I’m a Green, so nothing on the local primaries-I’m absolutely NOT voting for Jesse Ventura in the main. Maybe I’ll put my thoughts down after it’s all over.

Wednesday, noon. Same ‘ol… Skipped w/o last night-rainy, no motivation. Didn’t sleep well-need to get to bed earlier, that might help.

Friday. Rushing to prep for a code review-bleh. Worked out on Weds. evening. Not much else-we got our stimulus $$$, which went straight to savings. I’m actually saving. I may pull some of it to pay off collections.

Monday evening-time for bed. Finished up most stuff for code review. Decent weekend-w/o’s, stuff for back porch, online church, but rainy. M got his new laptop, C got his keyboard. Bills paid, never ends.

Wednesday evening, finishing work on time! Worked super late yesterday. Good w/o-jump rope because of rain-ankle still not liking it. Not much else, fortunately. Getting a pretty consistent 25+ mins for t’ai chi. Need to read and practice. Maybe tonight-M is making tamales. Maybe laundry too.

Friday evening, waiting for M to go run. Tamales were a failure. Not sure why-recipe and too thick maybe? Need more practice. Long weekend. Got stuff done, one bad thing still. Maybe I’ll call this.

Lol. Another week vanished. And Monday was a holiday. Riots over killings. Slowly reopening. Work. Workouts. Yummy dinners made by yours truly. A sore hip, so restless sleep. Talked to my mom. I think I’ll call this.

Didn’t call it. Another vanished week. Protests are ongoing-maybe this means change? Not much else-work, workout, shop. Got a new to me iPod shuffle-perfect for running. Been rainy, so jump rope. Got a shiny tiny new laptop last week, and a thing. Almost all my stuff for sale is sold-4 big things left. Been remembering my dreams but not writing them down. We’ve been planning our meals on Saturday/Sunday and doing all the shopping at once, but this week has been a bit not holding to plan.

Links/viddys-brighter side:

We don't deserve cats pic.twitter.com/H8vMfd8Lhi

— Giles Paley-Phillips (@eliistender10) May 1, 2020

And after posting that chubby bear, we wanna remind you to exercise a little during #QuarantineLife, too! pic.twitter.com/zU9wlM30kg

— Sierra Club (@SierraClub) May 13, 2020

A relaxing nature scene from Grand Teton National Park. pic.twitter.com/fmpht6cJQO #QuarantineLife #QuarantineLifeCalm

— Sierra Club (@SierraClub) May 23, 2020

"If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it…. Joy is not made to be a crumb." — Mary Oliver #QuarantineLife #QuarantineLifeCalm pic.twitter.com/mkSIculJ8O

— Sierra Club (@SierraClub) May 24, 2020

Wishing you a squeaky #WorldOtterDay pic.twitter.com/jHGNiLMote

— Oregon Zoo (@OregonZoo) May 27, 2020

It just keeps going. I think it’s about to end and it rages on. pic.twitter.com/6MzqQ3PzjP

— Cass Anderson (@casspa) May 27, 2020

Not so bright: don’t even want to go there (especially now).

Page 23, sentence 5: “A given pathway develops under the developmental constraints created by many others: none can occur before its component parts are ready, and none can be too disruptive to the others or to the overall process.” Becoming Human.

Please tip the writer. Whatever amount you like. We are always short of cash. If you need essential oils, please get in touch-my wife is a rep for DoTerra. Let me know if you or someone you know needs web design/development-my rates aren’t bad, and I’m more than pretty good at it. Java/database/UI too. ThankYouVeryMuch!

Well, I’ve been at home since March 2nd. This is fine in some ways, but tiring in others. We’re all stuck in a smallish apartment, E goes out a few times a week for groceries, we step outside a few times a day, and M and I have been working out as best we can. We were talking about how we’re in pretty good shape-I’m still working full-time, we’re all healthy, we live in a quiet suburban complex, in a state whose leadership took it seriously and doesn’t have a ton of knuckleheads running around doing stupid things. So far so good. Everyone I know seems ok so far too. As with all things, this will pass.

Haven’t picked this up for a week…working from home, distracted. Spent it mostly at home-insane shopping on Saturday, sold my MidiVerb and iBook (wish it was working right, because it’s such a lovely piece of hardware). Got a monitor from work, and that’s about it. S is at home and sitting next to me for schoolwork-she’s doing well. We’ve walked after work twice. The complex closed the gym, so Tuesday I ran around the trailer park with S, and M and I used water jugs for weights and did t’ai chi in the living room.

Sunday evening, eating a fajita burrito from Super Burrito Express. Not quite spicy enough… Pretty quiet-finished work, ran around the trailer park with M & S-M overdid it…Watched Conan the Barbarian yesterday. Memories of college. Online church today, shopping, jumped rope instead of running.

Monday noon, on the start of sprint meeting. S is next to me, doing schoolwork. And taking apart a Barbie. Now 2nd meeting. Drinking a cup of diluted apple cider vinegar and maple syrup (no cayenne). No idea if it’s helping…I feel pretty good, though running in Friday messed up my left Achilles tendon. Not sure if I prefer Kombucha or this. This is way cheaper, though. Need lunch.

Tuesday afternoon. Busy working-glad to have work to do. S is sort of working next to me. My calves are still super sore. I started on a Coursera class about happiness.

Wednesday noon. Trying to get stuff done, only partly succeeding. It’s hard to focus. Good w/o last night, even though my calves are still super sore-I used Soothanol afterwards, and my skin burned all night-stuff works, but I’m quite sensitive to it. I filled up another 5 gallon jug, so we now have 2 8 pound, and a 25 and a 40 pound weight. That and alternating running and jump rope should work fine for the duration. S is cutting up AriZona tea cans for her constellation work.

Thursday afternoon, meeting time. S is demotivated. I got stuff done, though, even though it’s super hard to focus and keep her on track too.

Friday, after work, waiting for S to finish her week’s work so I can scan it and ship it off to her teacher. Got all the rest scanned and in a Word doc. Got a decent amount of work done. Time to work out.

Here’s Thursday. Feeling a bit stir-crazy. And work is over. Got stuff done, but f’n admins changed AWS permissions without notice. Now I’m stuck going to UAT with untested changes. bleh. Jumped rope Tues., calves are OK, but my left Achilles is achy. We’re actually doing OK with the home w/o.

Friday, noon. Now 1. Stuff is sort of stalled right now-waiting. I have one task I can work on. Not much else-stuck at home. We planned meals for next week.

Tuesday afternoon. Pretty quiet because of everything. Skipped w/o Sunday, sore ankle and hip. Not much else-it’s been sunny and nice. House is staying pretty clean.

Thursday morning. Working on a large-scale query thing to update production data. Thursday, end of work. Got the prod thing done, added a logging bit. Notified people about data issue, need resolution of another issue. Missed a meeting at 8:30. Got an extortion spam email.

Friday afternoon, time to stop working. Have to get up at 9 on Sunday to run this production thing. Trying to fix another thing, waiting on access for a 3rd. Aaaah, work. At least I AM working, so… I keep looking at CV Stats and Oregon CV. House is doing fine, C is Spring cleaning, E is shopping, all garbed up. The temp is nice, so the back door is open. Mr Duck has visited, without Mrs. Duck. She’s either brooding or dead. Our neighbor quit feeding the squirrels, thankfully. Going to work out tonight. Maundy Thursday service last night, Bible study on Tues.-E was impressed at my insights. Read an interesting study of Fortune’s The Cosmic Doctrine.

Monday morning-I think I’ll call this. Monday evening-didn’t. Maybe now. Wednesday mid-morning. Now? Busy at work on a trans-gender thing-pretty cool, that, though the implementation is completely mundane-change objects, update a spreadsheet… No t’ai chi last night, ran and lifted only. All 3 Sunday. Not much else-maybe selling the Mirage and DDD-5.

OK, so it’s Friday morning. Def. going to call this. Guy wanted a barter for the Mirage, so no. Worked late-a thing we deployed failed-I fixed it, deployed and it ran OK. Not much else.

Links/viddys-brighter side:

Not so bright: don’t even want to go there (especially now).

Page 23, sentence 5: “People who have this talent are great at making sure that everyone feels involved and part of any team effort.” StrengthsFinder 2.0.

Please tip the writer. Whatever amount you like. We are always short of cash. If you need essential oils, please get in touch-my wife is a rep for DoTerra. Let me know if you or someone you know needs web design/development-my rates aren’t bad, and I’m more than pretty good at it. Java/database/UI too. ThankYouVeryMuch!

Well. Time to record this-“this is the time, and this is the record of the time” Time just keeps moving. At this juncture, it’s all about “so, you’ve been in a pandemic, what do you do now?” The answer is, of course, panic. Which is why there’s not one roll of TP on the shelves. <sigh> Not minimizing the severity of this-it seems to have a pretty high death rate, at least among old and sick people. And we’re not even 3 months in-so I’m working from home for now. Not much else-politics is much the same-we’re beginning Spring, DST, but still cold out. I need to sell stuff and go through my white bin.

Saturday morning, sitting in bed and making rice. Pretty quiet-w/o last night-lightened the load a bit, less deep on t’ai chi. Got work done, pretty decent… S got a new bed, living room is still a mess-hopefully this weekend.

Monday on the train to work. Busy weekend-shop, libe, laundry, put up blinds, stuff into the outside closet, no church, w/o. We’re planning the week’s meals. More genealogy-tracked back to more English royalty. S has a temp and is staying home-E wants to finish up her room and the living room.

Tuesday morning, trying to do stuff. We’re short of $$$ this week, but there’s a cushion. I want to keep the budgetary discipline and save more. We’ll see. It would be awesome to keep moving $ to savings, and maybe to Fidelity! Wish me luck… Coronavirus is causing market panic-maybe I don’t want to be in the market until everything hits bottom. I’d like to buy a house, too, so I need a down payment. Plus also retirement savings, but that’s next…or never. I’ve resigned myself to working until I die.

Thursday morning in scrum. All online, so I can skive…busy working, getting stuff done. Filed for TA, laundry, keeping stuff tidy. Short on ca$h for the next week too. E did drive by Ash Wednesday at church-got on the local news. Back to regular weights on w/o-I think I’ll start back to regular routines rather than the cut down one-I’m not as injured as I was… Afternoon-E is in the ER-we’ll see.

Friday morning-waiting for scrum. E had right side pain, but nothing wrong, so they gave her pills and we were gone in time to pick up M from the train. Got S from a classmates’, then got dinner. E is supposed to eat lightly. She has a neurologists appointment this morning.

A week has passed. It’s Friday morning again, on the scrum. Worked from home this week, because of the coming plague. Wait, it’s just an outbreak of bat flu. So, not much the last week-we think E had a pulled muscle, the neuro thing went well. S has ADHD, but a mild case. Good w/o’s, church, M and C are fine, C had an interview with GameStop. Not much else. Shopping, tidy-the house is staying that way because I’m home. I do a few minutes here and there-going through my boxes, white bin next, need to sell my extra stuff.

Monday, noonish. Sitting in sprint planning meeting #2. Pretty mellow working from home-S’ alarm didn’t go off and she came in at 8:08 and woke us up-had to hurry and get lunch made. Quiet weekend too-w/o-started back on the regular routines, tidy, shopping, no church, thing, binz-picked up 2 pairs of shoes-hightop Chucks and Clark’s desert boots. $180 worth of shoes for $20. Cleaned, fixed up, looks nice!

Links/viddys-brighter side:

Not so bright: don’t even want to go there.

Page 23, sentence 5: “Getting all anxious about them, or about the possibility of what might happen, was embarrassing.” The Nordic Theory of Everything.