Christmas Plans (in June)

In a controversial move, I booked my flights back to the UK for Christmas today.  Extremely early, but I wanted to capitalize on potentially cheaper prices with the pound-dollar exchange rate it currently is (currently 1.33 dollars to 1 pound), and also so that I’ve already got the time booked up in my calendar before things inevitably get crazy busy at work and I’m not allowed any time off (I haven’t been busy at all this year so far, but like a massive storm on the horizon you know the work is coming and when it hits it’s going to be absolutely horrible).  I don’t know whether I actually got a good deal (if I get upgraded from premium economy to business – which generally I’ve been pretty lucky with on my past transatlantic flights – then it will definitely be worth it!), but it’s booked now so I’ll be back home for 3 weeks.  Knowing my luck, Britain will somehow contrive to make things even worse than the quagmire they are currently in, and the exchange rate will slip even more and I lose out on an even better deal…  As for what I’ll do when I’m back, I don’t know yet.  I have been toying with the idea of going to Barcelona for a few days but I don’t know whether I’ll follow through with that.  Either way, it will be good to be back and even though it’s a long 6 months away already looking forward to it!   

Last GoT Post Until New Season

Thank you internet meme!

OCD

Got a bit OCD over the weekend concerning my bluray collection and making sure that I had redeemed all my digital copies of films/TV series before they expired.  A completely pointless exercise since I have absolutely no desire to watch any of these digitally with inferior sound and picture quality.  However, got super obsessed with Breaking Bad when I realized a  single episode was, for no apparent reason, not showing up in my digital library.  After being given the run around, eventually ended up in an online chat with someone called “Martin” (not real name, I suspect I was talking to someone in India since I think the chat used a universal translator) at 1 am who eventually added the missing episode to my collection.  A total waste of time, but at least I achieved my goal (even managing to get a digital copy of The Clockwork Orange, even though the redemption code had expired in something like 2012).  Don’t even get me started on the ridiculous nature of digital copies – it seems there is no universal standard, so I can’t have everything nicely saved in one place.  Instead, my digital copies are split between iTunes and something called Flixster Video.  But as I say, I doubt I will ever watch any of these digital copies so really a complete and utter waste of some of my weekend. 

England (population 53 million) 1 - 2 Iceland (population 320k)

Ding ding ding.  Shame.  Shame.  Shame.  Ding ding ding.  Shame.  Shame.  Shame.  Ding ding ding.  Shame.  Shame.  Shame.  Ding ding ding.  Shame.  Shame.  Shame.

It has not been a good week to be English.  This was one of the most disappointing, lethargic, aimless performances I’ve ever seen from England.  It was an embarrassment.  Humiliating.  A disgrace.  I really hate being English right now.

   

Some other miscellaneous observations over the weekend

-          The French national anthem – magnificent.  The Italian national anthem – magnificent.  The English national anthem – absolutely sucks.  We need something so much better.

-          With the exception of the only quality match-up between Italy and Spain, the watchability of the knockout matches so far has been awful.  I think that is generally reflective of the new format of the tournament – with more undeserving teams having qualified and progressed, it has really diluted the quality.  I hope it will get better.

-          The refereeing has generally, and perhaps surprisingly, been quite good so far.  Particularly compared to what I saw in the Copa America final yesterday, which had one of the worst refereeing displays I’ve ever seen. 

-          Everyone talks about the imbalance of the draw – with all the “big” teams in the bottom half.  I don’t have any problems with that whatsoever.  If you can’t win your group (see England and Spain), then that’s the consequence.  Deal with it.  But it does seem unfair that some group winners played a third-placed team, whilst others played a second-placed team – it makes the tournament setup seem flawed.

Game of Thrones S6E10

I'm doing a "live" blog on the season finale!  Not really live because I won't post until after the episode has finished, but I will write down my thoughts as I'm watching.

Some pre-episode predictions: King's Landing is going up in flames, and we will find out who John Snow's parents really are.  Lots of other interesting theories and speculation on the internet as to what might happen - some of them really great and that I do hope will come true.  Hope it won't disappoint!

Interesting, Dorne is back in the opening credits.  I was wondering if they might revisit that thread since the first episode.  Not that anybody misses it, because they weren't exactly the best developed (or best acted) characters.

Very unusual having a score playing during King's Landing scene(s) - I don't remember that before.  It's all going to kick off.  And there we go ka-boom!  Prediction fulfilled.  Jeez, that wiped out all the Tyrells and all the Sparrows.  Wow, didn't expect Tommen to commit suicide...  makes an interesting question of who his successor is.

Ah Bron, one of my favorite characters - you silver-tongued devil!  Jaime and his honor are an interesting combination.  Too much focus on Walder Frey - he is going down.

Hello Sam and Gilly and new location.  Looks like comic relief, not sure you're going to get much action out of a library otherwise.

Glad I turned up the brightness settings on my TV - looks as though its going to be a dark one, especially now we're back to Winterfell.  So the Red Witch has been sent on her way - I wonder whose path she will cross later?

Sansa - "Only a fool would trust Littlefinger".  Amen sister.  I just watched him in another film, and surprise surprise he was a baddie.

Dorne + Queen of Thorns + Varys - nice combo.

"You're in the great game now."  Indeed.  Tyrion - Hand of the Queen.  Nice moment.

Arya!!!!!!!  Another one off the list!  Wow, she is a stone cold killer.  Walder Frey did go down - I thought it might be Jamie, but yes the signs were it would be Arya.

Littlefinger revealed his ambition, and got rejected.  That might be bad for Sansa.

So John Snow is the the daughter of Lyanna not Ned.  As most of the internet predicted.  But conspicuously they didn't reveal the father.  Don't hide it - we all know he has dragon blood.

Little Lady Mormont -  my favorite new character from this series.  You go girl - give it to them.  Though I think Sansa should be Queen of the North rather than John Snow King of the North.

And Cersei sitting on the throne.  And in front of Jamie?  Wow, that's not going to end well.

And token hero shot of Daenerys to end the series.  And there we go.  And another excruciating 10 months to wait until the next series.  Sad face emoji.

Crying

I watched The Good Dinosaur yesterday.  A good, but maybe not great, Pixar film from last year - amazing animation though.  And I'm not ashamed to say, I cried during it.  This is not the first film or TV show that I have got emotional watching recently.  Am I getting soft?  No, just an indication that I am easily prone to emotional manipulation as much as the next person.  And crying is a healthy release.  So, perhaps I am human after all!

Shame

I was prepared to feel shame and embarrassment with my country around this time of the year.  I thought it would be just from our football team.  Instead, it is something entirely different and entirely bigger – a vote to leave the EU.  Am I shocked?  No.  Am I disappointed?  Extremely.  I think this is nothing short of a disaster – we’ve already seen a calamitous drop in the value of the pound (personally, a mixed blessing – very good for when I visit the UK and spend my US dollars, very bad because I still have significant savings in the UK).  When I last exchanged a chunk of my savings from pounds into dollars, the exchange rate was 2 dollars to 1 pound.  Now it is about 1.35 dollars to 1 pound.  That is a shocking decrease.  I think this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the economic impact of this vote - I fear for the future of our country, and I expect to see Britain plunge into a recession now.  I saw a headline saying that the young have been screwed by the older generation – who are the ones who voted in numbers.  I couldn’t agree more.   

I want to share a Financial Times reader comment that I think is doing the rounds on the internet and eloquently sums up the feelings of many:

“A quick note on the first three tragedies. Firstly, it was the working classes who voted for us to leave because they were economically disregarded, and it is they who will suffer the most in the short term. They have merely swapped one distant and unreachable elite for another. Secondly, the younger generation has lost the right to live and work in 27 other countries. We will never know the full extent of the lost opportunities, friendships, marriages and experiences we will be denied. Freedom of movement was taken away by our parents, uncles, and grandparents in a parting blow to a generation that was already drowning in the debts of our predecessors. Thirdly and perhaps most significantly, we now live in a post-factual democracy. When the facts met the myths they were as useless as bullets bouncing off the bodies of aliens in a HG Wells novel. When Michael Gove said, ‘The British people are sick of experts,’ he was right. But can anybody tell me the last time a prevailing culture of anti-intellectualism has led to anything other than bigotry?”

Mental Health

It’s quite unsettling when people like that guy who killed the MP in Leeds get described with terms like “quiet”, “shy”, “a gentle, kind chap” and “a bit of a loner”.  I’m all these things as well (maybe not so much on the gentle, kind side!).  That doesn’t mean that I’m going to go out and shoot somebody, but unfortunately it does mean that I have something in common with this kind of nutcase or serial murderer.  It probably also means that, on some level, I also have mental health issues.  I think everybody does.  Clearly in some people it is much more extreme than in others.  But I definitely suffer from depression, and that has impacted my personal and professional life.  But thankfully I don’t think I will ever have the capacity to carry out such a shocking act of violence and anger.  I don't think that breaking my table tennis paddles qualifies me as a psychotic.  At least I hope not!

A Fit of Pique

Bad day at work + Bad night’s sleep + Bad game of table tennis =

Sadly, it seems that all 3 of these things are continuing to happen at the moment.  I’ve got a new table tennis paddle that gives me a bit more power but less control, and it’s hurting my game.  This week I’ve been woken up early twice due to my smoke alarm chirping away because it needs a new battery (hopefully that is fixed now), and again this morning I think I got woken up by the sound of the same car engine as last week (they’d gone by the time I got to the bedroom window, but I suspect it might be the same person revving their engine but doing it a bit further down the road – we shall see if the pattern continues and I get woken up tomorrow and/or Friday, I’m going to try to video it if I can).  As for work, the less said about it the better at the moment – I’ve made a conspicuous effort not to comment on work in these blogs, but that may change if things continue the way they are and I need to let off some steam. 

More Brexit Thoughts

I can’t imagine how bad it is in the UK, but the media coverage on Brexit in the US has significantly escalated as the vote nears.  And if the articles I have read are any indication, even people in the US are worried about the effects of the UK voting out of the EU.  I’m frankly shocked at how close the vote will seemingly be – it seems that people are acting on emotion and a distrust of the government, and a somehow misguided notion that Britain can once again be great again if it ditches the shackles of the EU.  It can’t and it won’t – I think it can and should loosen the binds, but to break them entirely would be a huge mistake.  I suspect most people are being swayed by the scare-mongering of prejudiced print media – rather than using their common sense, looking at the facts and making a measured, reasoned and informed decision.  As has been correctly pointed out, it is not unlike voting for Donald Trump – whose popularity is based on appealing to misogynistic and nationalistic fears of the white man.  I would argue that a vote for leaving the EU is appealing to those similar base fears.  I think American voters are better than that, and will overwhelmingly reject Donald Trump when the time comes.  I hope British voters are able to do the same with regards leaving the EU, but I am worried that the people most likely to vote will vote out.  So regardless of which way it goes, I hope at least there is a decent turnout and therefore the vote is a fair representation of what the majority of the populace really wants.

Game of Thrones S6E9 / Slovakia 0 - 0 England

Traditionally, the penultimate episode in a season of Thrones has always been the best and most shocking – Ned Stark’s beheading, the Red Wedding, etc.  And although this episode wasn’t in the least bit shocking – it was too signposted and predictable what was going to happen – it was still a tremendously visceral experience with an extremely satisfying ending.  I’ve complained a lot about the slow build and lack of action in previous episodes – well this one made up for it and some.  We finally got to see some serious dragon action, and that what just for starters.  The main event – the Battle of the Bastards – was utterly brutal and captivating to watch, and extremely cinematic (shades of Saving Private Ryan, Zulu and – particularly – Lord of the Rings with Littlefinger doing a Gandalf and saving the day).  Clearly most of the season’s budget went on this episode, but it was worth it with the best battle ever seen on the small screen.  It sets up the finale nicely – cannot believe that there is only one episode left this season… Since they are so obviously telegraphing it, I expect King’s Landing to go up in flames.   

And a quick recap of the England game, in one word.  Inept.  We deserve a harder draw now.  Congrats to Wales.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!  When we think of our fathers, we all have different emotions and memories that come to mind.  Here is one of mine:

Cristiano Ronaldo

You are not the best footballer in the world.  You are a preening prima donna who nobody likes.  Oh boo hoo hoo, you missed a penalty (laughing uncontrollably), get over it.  

More apartment shennanigans

I kind of fear that I’m starting to sound like the boy who cried wolf, and that no one will take my apartment complaints seriously.  This is from the e-mail I sent to the apartment office today, concerning the latest developments:

Basically, I have been woken up early 3 mornings in a row now by the sound of a car engine.  What is happening is that someone is driving their car down to the pullout by the mailboxes near my apartment in the early hours, and idling/revving up their engine for 5-10 minutes there before they go on their way.  I wouldn't normally have any issues with this, apart from two things.  Firstly, their car engine is loud.  It is loud enough to wake me up in my bedroom even though I have the windows closed and I’m wearing earplugs (I can’t believe I’m the only one affected by this?!).  Secondly, it is really early – I have been woken up at 5am, 6am and 4.30am the last 3 mornings.  I reached my breaking point this morning and went out and said something to the driver, but I was tired and irritable so I’m not sure if I made any sense.

If this keeps on going on, I will let you know and ask that you do something about it.  It is a resident – I went for an explore yesterday evening, and I saw the car (a quite distinctive red Mazda) in the drive of 40A.  The fact that they’re warming up their car by the mailboxes rather than in front of their home makes me think that either other neighbors have complained about it or that they know their car is noisy.  Either way, now I’m suffering from their lack of consideration and I’m very unhappy about it.

Unbelievable.  Yes, some idiot is working on their gangbanger car in the early hours and waking me up.  And not even in front of their own home, so clearly they must know that they are being a total dick.  I probably shouldn’t have confronted him this morning as that could easily have escalated in a very bad way, but I was pissed after the 3^rd consecutive morning of being woken up and so I had to say something – I have absolutely no recollection of what I actually said, because I was angry and still half-asleep, but hopefully enough so that it won’t happen again (though I fear the worse). 

England 2 - 1 Wales

Well, was that worth getting up early for the 6am start time?  Judging by the first half performance, absolutely not.  But finally, a flood of relief with the equalizer and joy with the late winner.  The win is what really counts and can’t be too unhappy with 3 points and top of the group, so there is that – though still far from convinced by England and the team selection, tactics and performance.  The first half especially, they were listless, lacking in creativity, energy and drive.  We need to show some serious improvement if we are going to progress far in the tournament – and I just can’t see that happening.  Perhaps with a bit less pressure in the last game now, we can let the shackles off and play with a bit more freedom and intensity.  And please, for the love of god, don’t start with the same 11 again in the next game. 

Winning!

In a glorious redemption with all that is right in the world, I won a prize yesterday!  I’ve mentioned the step challenge at work – well it finished a few weeks ago, and I won the “Most Improved” category!  Perhaps my baseline was lower than most, but nonetheless I revel in the glory of earning a $50 voucher for REI.  Now, if there is a follow-up competition tracking my calorie intake then I have a real shot of losing some weight!  It has also made me decide that I would quite like to get a decent fitness tracker (Christmas present idea alert!), like a Fitbit or similar that I can wear like a watch and will track things like steps, sleep and heart rate.  As I get nearer to the big 4-0, it’s definitely time to start taking my health a bit more seriously.

Current Affairs

Well, this is a tough one.  I thought about writing something on the Orlando shootings, a call for gun control, the inevitability of nothing happening.  But this is like a broken record every time there is a mass shooting.  At the very least there is no justifiable reason to not ban automatic weapons.  Then I thought about writing about football hooliganism, the shame of being an English fan abroad, how scary the World Cup in Russia is going to be in just 2 years times, why I think Russia should be permanently kicked out of all international sports (it’s not just about their hooligans, but also their state-sanctioned doping – see Maria Sharapova and their athletics program – and their war crimes in Crimea and Syria).  But all of this is very sad, so instead here is a little statistical humor:

How many statisticians does it take to change a light bulb?

One (plus or minus three)

Game of Thrones S6E8

Oh Game of Thrones, how you irk me.  You are, at least for the time being, the only must-see appointment TV that I would consider recapping.  And arguably, you are the best show currently on TV – or at least the most buzz-worthy, and the only show I discuss extensively with work colleagues at the water cooler.  But yesterday’s episode was a snooze-fest.  Apart from a chase scene and a few gratuitously violent murders by The Hound and The Mountain, again this episode was conspicuously lacking in significant action.  Even the deaths of a couple of featured characters (the Waif and Blackfish) were inexplicably off-screen.  The siege at Riverrun was, like the confrontation at King’s Landing last week, a massive anticlimax. However I do think Jaime is one of the more interesting characters – a much more layered villain (or antihero?) than the cartoonishly sadistic Ramsay Bolton.  The resolution of the Arya story line was sadly predictable, essentially making her detour to the House of Black and White a massive waste of time with no discernible payoff.  And I’m just not invested enough in the events at Meereen to care about the massive fleet of ships suddenly bombarding the city.  So instead, I look forward to lots of action in the “Battle of the Bastards” in next week’s episode, then some juicy reveals and developments in the final episode.  Hopefully this will be enough to redeem the slightly plodding nature of the last few episodes.

American Sports

The big 4 sports in the US are baseball, american football, ice hockey and basketball.  And, it might surprise you which order I like these in:

NFL > NBA > NHL > MLB

Yes, I have increasingly started to enjoy basketball.  That is something I never thought I’d say!  But I think of all these sports, basketball has the best display of individual skill and athleticism.  It’s currently the finals with Golden State Warriors leading the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Or, in the match-up of MVPs, Steph Curry vs LeBron James.  But most of you reading probably couldn’t care less about this!  What is also interesting is that I’ve really drifted away from baseball - a sport which I’ve seen a lot of live games of, but which I am increasingly indifferent to.  It is the US equivalent of cricket.

England 1 - 1 Russia

There was a certain predictability and inevitability about this game and result: shameful English "fans" getting in trouble, questionable player selection and formation, mediocre performance barely better than a very ordinary opponent, score first, questionable substitutions, get defensive, concede a late soft equalizer, end game with massive feeling of disappointment and letdown.  We may have a young team, but sadly nothing really changes.

Podcasts

I listen to a lot of podcasts, especially now with the amount of time I’m stuck in my car commuting to and from work.  And I listen to predominantly comedy podcasts – both American and English – since they provide a welcome respite from reality.  My actual problem now is running out of material to listen to – so all recommendations gladly accepted!  Here is what I currently have on my iPod (yes, I said iPod – I’ve also got an iPhone, but I tend to keep my music and podcasts on my iPod), in no particular order:

The Absolute Peach

The Adam Buxton Podcast

The Bugle

With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus

Hollywood Handbook

Serial

WOMP It Up!

Harmontown

Comedy Bang Bang

How Did This Get Made?

The Frank Skinner Show

Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast

Answer Me This!

The Complete Guide to Everything

Me1 vs Me2 Snooker with Richard Herring

The Smartest man in the World

There have been a lot of other podcasts that have come and gone (either because they’ve finished or I’ve fallen out of favor with them), so it will be interesting to see how much this list changes over the next few years – and how reflective this is of my evolving tastes.

Apartment Woes

I hate my apartment.  Not quite as much as the one I had in Austin, but it’s getting close.  The most recent discovery is just how hot my apartment gets in warm weather – we’ve just had a stretch of weather that was the hottest it has been since I moved in, and apparently my living room heats up like an oven.  Which is nice.  On top of everything else, I think this might be the final straw - I’m going to move out when my lease ends.  I’ve said that before in previous rentals and have ended up overstaying my welcome, but this time I have to commit to it.  I’m done with apartments (or at least crappy apartments like this) and the noisy, smelly, disrespectful neighbors that come with that – I would love to try something different, like a house or townhouse.  That’s not to say that I won’t find something new to complain about, but I think I have to at least try to upgrade my living situation and not settle – something I’m prone to do in all aspects of my life.  I might even go to the office to see if I can break my lease early – but I suspect there will be a significant financial penalty to doing that, and I don’t want to give those bloodsuckers any more of my money than I have to. 

PS4

I finally did it.  After much deliberation and cogitation, I have upgraded my PS3 to a PS4.  This was a difficult decision.  I’m at an age where my passion to play video games has substantially diminished – in fact, I own several PS3 games that I don’t think I’ve even played once.  And the timing of my decision is questionable – there are rumors that Sony are going to release a PS4.5 later this year.  However, I couldn’t resist the call of the siren.  And coming across a good deal on eBay – I decided to pull the trigger.  And so, I’m now the proud owner of a PS4!  It could be argued that this is a total waste of money – I can play blu-rays and watch the same streaming services on my PS3 than I can on my PS4, without any discernible drop off in quality of picture or audio.  But I think the relatively small outlay of $350 was worth it.  And there are a couple of games that I will play – I’ve always been a big fan of the Grand Theft Auto series, so I’m very much looking forward to playing the most recent version of that on the PS4, there is also a puzzle game called The Witness that had previously caught my attention, and I suspect I will also buy Doom, a revamped version of a first-person shooter I remember playing a lot back in the day (20 years ago?!).  Naturally all of this is counter-intuitive to my desires to exercise and get out and about, so I just need to strike the right balance between indoors and outdoors (which was always an issue anyway, with the amount of TV and films that I want/need to catch up on!).  And, as I’ve already discovered, getting the optimal setup for my PS4 with the rest of my home entertainment system is going to test my patience and my technological know-how….   

Barclay Lake

Here is a photo of Barclay Lake where I hiked to on Sunday.

Game of Thrones S6E7

Kinda weird episode this week – although still tracking several plot threads, the focus seemed somehow tighter and I can’t remember having seen a cold opening before.  This featured several new (and returning!) characters – a somewhat unusual time in the season to introduce them, but OK we’ve still got 3 episodes left (though I feel like we need a lot to happen in these last 3 episodes to make all the build-up worth it).  But I liked Swearengen’s 1-episode cameo – and good to see The Hound back (back from the dead?  I wasn’t clear about this.).  And I liked the girl who was head of House Mormont – though Davos’s interaction with her was not unlike his interaction with Shireen (hopefully it will end better for her than it did for Shireen!).  And good to see Bronn back with his pithy putdowns.  But we haven’t got payoffs on any of the major plot threads yet, and that is still massively disappointing.  I think the various other developments and machinations hinted at or were just red herrings on what I think will happen – Margaery playing a long con, Jaime/Blackfish stalemate, Arya not dead, Sansa asking for Littlefinger’s help, Theon’s eventual redemption. 

Copa America

Whilst waiting for the Euro's to start - which cannot come some enough - Copa America has already started.  Normally I couldn't give two hoots about this tournament, but because it is being held in the US there is slightly more coverage on it than normal.  The Euro's will still be televised here fortunately (and I quite like the idea of waking up to game before heading to work), but I think Copa America has the priority (thankfully they are on different networks so there shouldn't be any issues of competing coverage).  I haven't caught much of it on TV to be honest - and frankly what I have seen has not been very good.  Some games are even being held in Seattle.  Sadly, none of them are particularly appealing - we've already had Peru vs Haiti, next is Argentina vs Bolivia, and then I think we've got a quarter-final game.  This is a little bit disappointing considering Seattle has a great fan base for soccer - the Seattle Sounders are easily the best supported team in the US with regular attendances of 40,000 plus, so I think they deserved to have at least one high caliber game here.  But no, the people making these decisions obviously prefer the key markets of New York and LA for the big games, rather than the passionate but localized markets of the Pacific NW (Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps are also big teams in the MLS - the Portland-Seattle games are considered the best rivalry games in the sport here).  Regardless, I remain fairly indifferent to Copa America (more so if the US doesn't get very far - they already lost their first game) so I'm just looking forward to the Euro's.  I don't know what to expect from England - great qualifying, meaningless friendlies, good potential going forward, an awful looking back line - could go either way.  Should be interesting, though I expect ultimately disappointing.

Thwarted Road Trips

This is the 2nd weekend in a row in which I'd planned to take a road trip but have canceled at the last moment.  I haven't been feeling well recently so haven't felt up to doing a long weekend of driving round the Olympic peninsula.  It must be serious because I actually had to take a sick day at work this week because I was genuinely feeling sick!  I think it might be the perfect storm of allergies, lack of sleep, aching body and insect bites (my left ankle area is absolutely ravaged by bites, and I have no idea when it happened - it looks like a lone insect had an absolute feast on my sugar and fat heavy blood!).  Jeez, I'm getting old!  I think the worst symptom is definitely the headaches (which may even be migraines) I'm getting in the morning after a restless night of only a couple of hours of sleep.  This has happened several times now, and is really horrible - I liken it to a terrible hangover where your head is thumping with the rhythm of your bloodstream.  Fortunately, I have started to feel a bit better last few days so hopefully I'll get back to normal - and hopefully the weather will stay good so that I can complete these road trips in the weekends ahead.  The weather is so unreliable in the Pacific NW (or at least it used to be?) that it seems like such a tragic waste when you don't make the most of a nice weekend!

Sunset

Chilling on my deck watching the sunset.

Celebrity Sex Injunctions

If you're curious, happy to name any celebrities granted injunctions in the UK but who have been named and shamed in the US.  The most recent being some football players and manager.  This makes a farce of the British gagging order doesn't it.  Thanks internet.  I'm sure Elton John knows what I'm talking about...

Allergies

My allergies have exploded today – I’ve been sneezing all day and my nose is a running mess.  It always seems to be this time of year – I remember sniffling through exams at school and university.  I have no idea what the specific pollen is that causes this – but currently there is a local pollen alert in Seattle with a very high grass pollen count.  With another weather alert about hot weather for the upcoming weekend, I think it’s only going to get worse.  I’m sure my cube neighbors at work are loving me with my constant sniffing and sneezing and labored breathing.  And it’s not like I can avoid pollen – I’m not going to stay cooped up inside when the weather is nice and I want to get out at lunchtimes and evenings to keep my step count up.  Maybe time to buy some dubiously effective over-the-counter antihistamines to see if they help.  And since I’m still not sleeping very well at moment, they have the beneficial side effect of making me feel drowsy as well!