California Dreamin

Day 1 of a 5 day work trip to California.  A trip that I don't really want to do, and which I didn't need to do.  The only reason I booked the trip is that I thought my job role was changing, and that I might be getting a new manager.  But nope, as soon as they put the kibosh on that then there is absolutely no reason for me to be here.  Certainly not for the symposium, which is on one of my least favorite topics - AI.  And I've not got a single face-to-face meeting lined up with any of my colleagues here who I work with.  So there's no need for me to be here - if I was interested in any of the talks (which I'm not), then I could attend them virtually.  We do have a couple of group activities lined up, but that's it.  What I find most frustrating is that work won't cover the cost of a rental car.  So I'm stuck in the vicinity of the hotel and work campus, in this crappy part of the Bay Area where there is nothing to do.  So I'm going to be bored senseless.  And what's the point of staying at a residential hotel when I don't have a car to load up with any groceries.  Just so stupid.  I'm just counting the days until I'm back home.

Public Service Announcement

I finally got to see one of the taxpayer-funded adverts for Trump.  What an absolute disgrace.  It's just a clip of Trump (or what looks like it might be an AI version of him) walking down the "Presidential Walk of Fame", accompanied by some audio of him spouting his usual nonsense about deep state (even though he is very much an integral part of the deep state now) and fake news.  The government claims it is a public service announcement.  It is not.  It is a political ad being paid for by taxpayer money.  And yet another cause for impeachment (something that will never happen because it requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate). 

  

   

Nagini

The septic tank company finally delivered me a replacement trail cam.  As I was setting it up, look what I saw curled up nearby.  Not the biggest thing in the world, but at least photographic confirmation of their existence in my yard.

Printers

Why is setting up printers, and fixing printers when things go wrong, so difficult?  I think they purposely design them to be totally non-user-friendly.  I made the fatal decision to try to connect my printer to my work laptop.  Something I should really have done a long time ago.  Especially working from home.  But it's an old printer, so this did not prove straight forward (when the instruction manual refers to Windows 7, that is not a good sign that the printer will work with newer technology).  It is a wireless printer, and I couldn't get it to connect to my work laptop.  No matter what I tried.  And because I reset the wireless settings on the printer, now my home laptop doesn't recognize it either.  Having wasted most of the day trying to fix this, I finally gave up and instead ordered myself a new printer from Amazon.  A bit disappointed with myself - I should have been able to at least restore it so that I could print stuff again from my home laptop.  But I couldn't even do that.  A lack of tech savviness is a classic sign of getting old... 

Reading

I haven't read a book in ages.  Not even when I came back to the UK - even though I had packed 2 books.  I feel I need to rectify this.  I need to immerse myself in some good literature.  My attention span and mental health is being ruined by my phone.  At one point I was working through a list of the books that everyone should read in their lifetime.  I need to revisit that.  There are still so many classics I have never read.  But it's not just the classics, there are so many powerful modern stories.  I could easily work through a list of the best books of the 21st century, or a list of Pulitzer Prize (or, the UK equivalent, Booker Prize) winners.  This feels like something that is relatively achievable with just a small change in habits.     

A Slow Week

Most unusually, it has been an incredibly slow week at work.  I don't have anything to work on.  Or at least nothing urgent.  And so how have I been spending my time?  Well, for starters, I've been binge-watching The Diplomat on Netflix.  A great political thriller - that I can only recommend.  The creator of this show has previously worked on stuff like The West Wing (a show that I have never watched, but I think I should) and Homeland - so if you like fast-paced, high-pressure political stakes then you will really like this show.  With opportune timing, I've also got a few new LEGO sets this week to work on.  Maintaining my British-themed collection, I've got a new London bus model (the 3rd different one Lego has produced!) plus the Jaguar E-Type model to work on.  And naturally I will soon be getting the Downton Abbey set that came out today.

Man City

Guilty of 115 charges.  They should be docked 115 points.  Let's see them cheat their way out of relegation.  Case closed.