Team Meeting

I've got a dilemma.  There is a team meet up taking place next Wednesday in Seattle (well, strictly speaking, in Bellevue - but that's the same distance away from me as Seattle is).  I don't really want to go.  It's at some Chinese restaurant where I don't think I'm going to like the food.  But some key people in my department are going to be there - including my manager's manager's manager's manager, my manager's manager's manager and my manager - so I feel some obligation to attend.  I don't really know why some of these people are flying up from California to be here.  This feels like nothing more than a brown nosing event, rather than them actually having some news (good or bad) to impart.  But there is an extra factor to consider.  England are playing their first World Cup game on the same day.  And I would miss it if I was to go to this meeting.  So I honestly don't know what to do.  I can almost guarantee that someone will spoil the score if I record the game and go.  But do I really care that much about watching the game live?  And how important is it for me to go to this meeting?  At no time has anyone said attendance is mandatory, but I feel like it is.  Or at the very least, my absence would be noted.  But do I really care?  As stated previously, I wouldn't mind getting laid off.  I've got until tomorrow to decide whether to go or not.  Let me sleep on it.   

Home Entertainment

I've taken my first steps to substantially upgrading my home entertainment system.  I've just ordered a new soundbar.  I found it new for less than half the retail price, which was too good a deal to pass up on.  And this is, by all accounts (or at least according to many of the online reviews) one of the best systems out there.  Even at the reduced price, it wasn't cheap.  But it features a 11.1.4 channel setup, which should result in some incredible sound.  Calling it a soundbar doesn't do it justice - it's more like a home theater system, with a wireless subwoofer and wireless rear speakers to go with the actual soundbar.  Now I need to pair it up with a high quality telly - I've got my eyes on a particular model, but it ain't cheap...

Vertigo

I can talk about this now, because I'm more or less over it.  But for about a week, I have been suffering from dizzy spells.  Not the more serious low blood pressure, fainting type of dizziness.  No, this was more like occasionally experiencing a spinning sensation.  In certain situations where I moved my head suddenly - especially when I moved position in bed, something I do a lot of - then I was getting really dizzy.  There is something deeply, fundamentally disturbing about experiencing a really spinning room while you're stationary and gripping hard onto whatever you can before things settle back to normal.  Fortunately these spells only lasted for a few seconds, but still very unsettling.  I think I was suffering from something called BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo) - where, apparently, tiny calcium crystals get dislodged and go into the wrong part of your ear canal.  Isn't the human body a crazy thing.  But apparently this is quite common, especially for people over 50 (which I nearly am).  And fortunately I didn't have to live with this condition for too long.  But an unwelcome reminder that I'm going to experience more stuff like this as I get older.  

An Unexpected Visitor

I moved my trail camera in the hope of seeing new wildlife.  Well, my decision has paid off.  And in quite spectacular fashion:

Yes, that is a black bear going up my driveway towards my house.  And quite a large one at that.  I had absolutely no idea it was even possible for there to be any bears in my neighborhood.  It's not like my neighborhood is overly developed, but neither are there any big wilderness areas nearby.  I certainly haven't seen any bears here before, and I haven't heard about any here before either.  And judging from my landlord's reaction when I sent him one of the above photos - "Holy sh*t!!!" was the text I got back - I suspect he hasn't either.   

Watch Repair

It took me 3 days to notice that my watch had stopped running.  And I'd been wearing it for most of those 3 days.  Is it weird that I don't look at my watch that much?  Either way, I need to get a new battery fitted.  I took it in to a jewelers today, and the price they quoted just for a battery replacement was outrageous - almost the cost of the watch itself.  So I declined, and instead went home and ordered a very basic watch replacement kit from Amazon instead.  I'll do it myself - I think (hope) it isn't too complicated.  I think I just need to use the right tools to unscrew the back of the watch, and simply replace the battery (which I also need to order from Amazon).  It'll probably end up being a lot less easy than that, especially with my very limited expertise when it comes to doing fiddly things, but we shall see.  

Cleaning

Note to self - don't use any cleaning products that contain bleach.  Whenever I use them, I have an uncanny ability to stain things that I don't want stained - in the worst case, ruining some item of clothing that I'm wearing.  Just in the last week, I have contrived to get bleach stains on two of my washcloths.  Nope, I am done with using bathroom spray containing bleach.  I'd rather use an inferior cleaning product.   

Gambling

It seems to me that the US has a serious gambling problem.  Both the Stanley Cup final and NBA finals are going on right now, and the preponderance of sports gambling websites and apps being advertised during these games is shocking.  And the number of things you can bet on just over the duration of a single game is unbelievable.  I've noticed that even the news ticker on sports channels has started showing betting odds, and an increasingly larger amount of pre-game coverage is explicitly dedicated to gambling.  It doesn't seem like there is much regulation of this industry here, which I guess shouldn't surprise me given the current administration.  And it's not just sports, but even platforms that allow you to bet on almost anything (such as political, military or social events) seem to have massively increased their presence.  And profits.  Because ultimately, the house always wins.