Happy Halloween

Although I saw some groups of trick and treaters in my neighborhood on the way home today, no one called at my house.  This is the advantage of living at the edge of my neighborhood, hidden from the road and where there isn't a sidewalk.  I didn't even need to pretend I wasn't home.  However, it looked like I wasn't home anyway since I was suffering from a power outage most of this evening.  I wasn't even sure I would be able to write and post this blog.  All my neighbors looked like they had power, so I think it was just me affected.  And so very worried that it might be ages until it got fixed - but fortunately heard them working on the poles on the road outside my place not too long after I had reported the outage, and the power has just come back on.  So that's a relief.  However, it became abundantly clear that I am totally inadequately prepared for losing power in the future for any length of time - I need to buy some candles and suchlike. 

Wasteful Expenditure

Since getting my PS4, I've hardly used it for playing games on.  At all.  So that's been several years.  Yet here I am having just bought 2 new games - God of War, and Red Dead Redemption 2.  Why?  Perhaps I got sold on the rave reviews they've both been getting.  Perhaps I've seen too many ads for both games and I'm a sucker.  Perhaps it's because I've been talking video games recently with a few guys at work.  Either way, I hope these games don't just collect dust on the shelf.  But I also hope I don't end up spending every spare hour I've got vegging out on my sofa playing these games.  But hey, I guess I'm doing that anyway watching films and telly!   

Choke Artist

Another table tennis match today.  Another classic choke job from me against my nemesis – I lost a lot of points early, and could never recover.  Anxious, tightened up, couldn’t play with power or precision.  Totally disappointing, utterly predictable.  Our team lost anyway regardless of my result (though I certainly didn’t help), so once again I maintain my sad record of having never won any kind of trophy in sports.  Extremely dispiriting.  I think I need to buy myself a participation trophy or something.  Getting very down on myself, this could be a long week.  It certainly won’t involve playing any more table tennis – I need a break from it.

I recorded the Spurs-Man City game and watched it this evening, 3 observations: (1) I really like Man City's purple/orange kit, (2) American football has absolutely ruined the Wembley pitch, (3) Spurs will not challenge for the title this year.

Palace 2-2 Arsenal

Not a bad result against a team in form, but still have my concerns about Palace.  Despite 2 penalties today, not scoring enough - and if you don't score you won't win.  And a bit of a brutal stretch of games coming up - Chelsea, Spurs and Man United.  I don't see many points there, and the distinct possibility of Palace slipping into the bottom 3.  Fortunately there are plenty of other bad teams in the Premier League, but this season looks like its going to turn into another fraught relegation struggle.  I remain worried.

A New Low

This is the kind of sh*t that they've started airing in ad breaks now:

Unbelievable.

Bohemian Rhapsody

I've seen the trailers for Bohemian Rhapsody and got excited at the possibility of going to the cinema to watch it and sing along with the rest of the audience to all the classic tunes.  And then the early reviews have come in.  To put it politely, they are mixed.  Not much to the film apart from the music and apparently great portrayal of Freddie Mercury.  So I suspect I won't bother going.  Indeed, I haven't been to the cinema for ages - I can't even remember the last time I went out to watch a film.  There was a time when I used to go every week.  Now, I am much more inclined to watch a film at home unless it is really recommended to see it on a big IMAX screen.  But with the over-saturation of superhero and franchise movies, there really isn't much worth watching nowadays.  Which is a real shame.     

Old Dog

I encountered an expression that I had never heard before in my 40+ years of existence until today – camel case.  “The practice of writing compound words or phrases such that each work or abbreviation in the middle of the phrase begins with a capital letter, with no intervening spaces or punctuation”.  So the next time you write “iPhone”, you can say that this is an example of camel case.  You can thank me later.

Team Winded/Team Full of Wind

A ping pong update.  We started a Ryder Cup style tournament this week, and I played my first game today.  If I’m the #2 seed at work, then I played probably the #4 seed.  And after a rocky start where I dropped the first game, managed to power through and win my match 3-1.  Giving “Team Wind” (not my choice, awful name) a 2-0 lead on Day 1 of the tournament.  I believe I’ll be playing next on Monday.  Although ultimately it is the result that matters, very disappointed with how I played.  My style of play – aggressive and a power game – allows only for a small margin of error, which quickly becomes a liability when I tighten up under pressure – as I am sadly prone to do, particularly with people watching.  I suffer from glossophobia -  a fear of public speaking - and this is very much an adjacent phobia and symptom to that.  I don’t know why I get so anxious, but I do.  And this has manifested itself in so many aspects of my life, particularly my social life – so it should come as no surprise that it affects my ping pong game in a tight and well fought match.  I’m a crowd-pleaser and I don’t want to play conservatively, so I do go for a lot of winners - I think people like watching me play because I am prone to outrageously good and outrageously bad shots, and a lot of muttering and swearing under my breath (and sometimes not under my breath!).   

Dreamin'

Well, I didn’t win the $1.6 billion jackpot on today’s lottery drawing.  Which is disappointing.  I guess I’m going into work tomorrow.

Smooth

I hope to make better use of my kitchen appliances.  I bought a rice cooker about a year ago, and haven’t used it once.  Now I’ve just bought a blender, and I hope this won’t go unused for a year.  I don’t think it will, mainly because I want to start using it to make fruit smoothies.  Now I just need to find the right combination of ingredients to make the ideal smoothie for me – some combination of bananas, strawberries, mixed berries, milk, yogurt, a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream, ice, …?  My first attempt made with some fruit I happened to have in my fridge didn’t taste all that great – but there seem to be about a billion different recipes on the internet, so I just need to start buying the ingredients and testing some of them out.

Britain Today

What is Britain today?  Is it the hundreds of thousands of people who marched in London demanding another Brexit referendum?  Or is it the racist white guy who refused to sit next to an elderly black woman on a flight?  I hope it's the former, but I suspect it is really the latter. 

Sick

It's been a rough week - I caught what I thought was just a cold last weekend, but may actually have been something more serious.  At various times this week I've experienced at least one of these symptoms: sore throat, congestion, fever, fatigue, tickly cough, chesty cough, headache.  It was so bad that I had to actually use one of my sick days on Monday for real, rather than for "mental exhaustion".  (And yes, as well as a set number of vacation days during a year, we also have a set number of sick days we're allowed to take during a year...).  The irony is that I caught this virus during one of the best Octobers we've ever had in the Seattle area - not much rain, plenty of sun, and unseasonably high temperatures.  And another irony is that I had a flu shot scheduled on Thursday - which may or may not have made a difference, since I'm feeling a lot better now than I did at the start of the week.  And yet another irony is that despite my poor health, I played my table tennis nemesis this week and played the best I think I've ever played and trounced him.  Sadly I've probably peaked too early, since we've got a tournament next week...       

Drop, Cover and Hold On

In the most ridiculous waste of time yet at work, we had an earthquake drill today.  The fire alarm came on, and we had to kneel and crouch under our desk for a minute until the alarm went off (and the simulated earthquake had finished) and we could evacuate the building.  The chances of an earthquake happening here in reality are minuscule at best, so this exercise was utterly stupid and pointless.  I probably failed the drill as well.  If you can believe this, everyone in the office has been supplied an emergency supply pack in the unlikely event of such a disaster.  I forgot to grab mine from under my desk as I evacuated the building.  Without my emergency supply pack, I wouldn’t have survived the carnage and subsequent zombie apocalypse.  Oh no.  What makes it worse – an actual state, national and international “Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drill” was conducted yesterday.  So I have no idea why we did ours a day after everyone else.  Naturally, if we actually do have a serious earthquake in the next few years then I take back all my criticism.  But unlike when I lived in California, I’ve never even noticed or felt an earthquake tremor in my entire time in the Pacific NW.

Career Goals

A recent panel discussion at work by some members of senior management have confirmed my belief that I will never become a part of senior management myself.  And that is through choice.  They talked a lot about challenging yourself, embracing change, speaking up, don’t be afraid to do different things, working hard, etc. in order to succeed in the workplace.  I don’t want to do any of that.  I’m in my comfort zone, and I am very reluctant to leave it.  I earn a decent wage in a job that I am rarely challenged in, and which has been for the last few years relatively stress-free.  I’m in no way proactive – I just get on with what I’m asked to do in a quiet and efficient manner, and be done with it.  There is the chance that I might get promoted at the end of this year – on the one hand this is something that I think is long overdue, but on the other hand this could jeopardize my current contentedness with work.  I don’t want more managerial responsibilities – I currently don’t have anyone reporting to me (permanent or contractors), and that is so preferable because I then only have work responsibilities to worry about.  That might change.  But at least I now have a manager who has known me for a while, and I think actually respects me because she knows I do a good job of everything I’m asked to do.  More than that, I think she knows that I left this company before because I was pushed too hard – something which is only partially true, there were also a lot of other reasons why I left – so I don’t think she will put too much on my plate.  Which is fine by me.  Hopefully it will stay like this for a while (I STRONGLY suspect it won’t, at some point I know I’ll get dragged into something that is demanding and stressful and time-consuming) which is why I haven’t been looking into other job opportunities recently.  But I think if things do take a turn for the worse and I want to get out, I am much more inclined to take a sabbatical rather than go straight into a new job – a chance to decompress, to travel, to enjoy life and some totally pressure-free time on my own terms with no responsibilities.  I suspect I won’t live to enjoy a long and healthy retirement, so I’d rather do retirement type things whilst I still can.  But for the moment I’m happy to be in my comfortable job saving up money for whenever I might need it.

State Initiatives

With the mid-term elections, also come a bunch of state initiatives that Washingtonians have to vote on.  And there are some interesting ones.  A carbon tax (the first in the nation) - and naturally "big oil" are spending enormous amounts of money on attack ads to stop this initiative passing.  I hope they fail.  A soda tax - actually an initiative to BLOCK future soda taxes after one was passed in Seattle.  Naturally, "big soda" are spending enormous amounts of money to get this initiative to pass.  Although I drink way too much soda, I'm not proud about this so I'm not averse to this tax.  An initiative to increase gun regulations - something any rational person should support.  And an initiative to improve police training and make it easier to prosecute police officers in negligent shootings.  Which seems sensible - despite my misgivings about what an increasingly difficult job that is to do well.  Another reason to want to become a citizen, so that I can actually have my vote on stuff like this (although I've never voted for anything in my life ever before!). 

YouTube

I've never seen YouTube down, but I was wondering why an error was appearing on one of my blogs from a few days ago where I had included a video.  And yes, YouTube really is down as I write this.  Must be something major.  I have been watching way too many YouTube videos recently - most of them stupid and pointless - so this is not necessarily a bad thing.  Perhaps that will stop me watching car crash videos at work right before I drive home.  Not recommended.   

New Blu-Ray

I don't buy many Blu-rays nowadays, but got this one recently for a good price - a show I've never even seen, but which comes highly recommended and I've been told I should like (I subscribe to a podcast of one of the creators).

Seahawks in London

No photos added to yesterday's blog yet - sorry.  I managed to catch quite a nasty cold today from yesterday's excursions, so I didn't feel like doing much of anything today.

Just a quick comment about the Seattle Seahawks playing in London for the first time.  Nothing to say about the game itself - an easy win against an inept Raiders team.  But if you're a Seahawks fan, it was probably easier to get a ticket for that game than any of their home games which are always sold out - which is probably why, from what little I saw of the game, that the crowd was very pro-Seahawks.  And whenever they play a game in London, the coverage here was about as patronizing on British stereotypes as you would expect - think stupid English accents and pretending to drink tea.  And even worse was that all the local news teams had a reporter in London - making for some excruciatingly amateurish reports about Britain and British people.  Let's hope they don't go out there again anytime soon - I don't think they will, because it's a long way away and there would be uproar if the Seahawks lost out on yet another home game.

Ebey's Landing

It was a nice day today so got up early,  drove up to Whidbey Island and did a coastal hike at Ebey's Landing National Historic Reserve.  This has been a hike on my radar for sometime, but for whatever reason I had never done it before.  And that's a shame, because this was a good one.  About 6 miles, with great views over the water throughout, it is a loop that you go up and along a bluff (with a detour to some early settlement buildings and a cemetery) and come back along the shoreline.  That shoreline hike back with the sun beating down on you and heavy going through the sand was surprisingly tough, but at least I had the entire beach almost entirely to myself - if I do this hike again, I'll make sure I time it for low tide!

I'll add some photos to this post tomorrow.     

Earworm

This song popped up in my streaming music channel last weekend, and I can't stop listening to it and I can't get it out of my head.

I have absolutely no idea why I didn't encounter this song in 2009 when it first came out, or since.  And I must have heard it on some TV show, film or trailer at some point.  It's damn good - so I'm a bit disappointed I didn't know it before this week.  But perhaps that says more about my increasingly dated music tastes than anything else. 

Trumpaganda

This is my last blog entry about politics until after the mid-term elections.  I just can't and don't want to follow the news anymore - what is happening in American politics is nothing less than depressing and mortifying.  If America continues to vote for Trump and the Republican Party, then I despair.  And, in all honesty, I'm not sure I want to live in a country like this.  That pushes me in one of two directions - to leave the US, or to become a US citizen with the right to vote.  The latter is something I have been giving a LOT of thought to recently... if only I lived somewhere where my vote would actually make a difference, thank you libtard Washington State.

EOY

Looks like I’m going to be busy at work through the rest of the year – particularly next month.  So my blog entries may become a lot more concise!  It’s a good job that I don’t have big plans for Thanksgiving or Christmas yet – if I go anywhere, it won’t be far since I can’t be that long away from work.  I probably wasn’t going to come back to the UK this Christmas, and this more or less settles it that I won’t – I don’t mind, it was only a few months ago when I was back (although it feels like a long time ago!).  And I’ve definitely left it too late to get a good price on a flight (I’ve only been looking at Virgin Atlantic prices – not even considering British Airways anymore!).  Do I get a discounted price if I have an emotional support squirrel?!  But although I might be busy – what I’m working on is not particularly challenging, just time-consuming.  Which is disappointing – I feel like I am lacking some serious mental stimulation.  Yet another example of how horribly misused and underused I am here.  If I want to challenge myself and the way my profession is going, I should probably learn a new language - Mandarin Chinese…

New Fall TV Season

We are now into Week 2 or Week 3 of the new fall TV season - and I don't think there is a single new TV show that I am watching.  Not a single one.  I am watching new seasons of old shows, but nothing new.  No wonder people are cutting the cable with the sheer amount of mediocrity on network television.  And no wonder viewing numbers are markedly down on all shows.  The only decent stuff coming out now seems to be on subscription or streaming services.  If it wasn't for sports, I would cut the cable now.  And with live sports streaming services increasingly a thing, even that is not a deterrent any more...

The Greatest Speech Ever Made

So much for being a film aficionado.  Until this weekend, I had (a) never heard Charlie Chaplin actually speak and (b) never heard this famous speech.  For a speech that comes from a film nearly 80 years old, it is remarkably relevant still today.

  

Bosch

I've become totally addicted to the TV series Bosch, watching it on Amazon.  I've watched all 4 seasons - 40 episodes, each about 45 minutes to 1 hour - over the last month, and I'm totally up to date now and looking forward to Season 5 next year.  I'm not really sure why I like it - it's not a particularly special or original detective show.  But it is reliably enjoyable and doesn't require deep concentration, which makes it very easily consumed.  Perhaps I've reached that age where I start to enjoy shows more that I can switch my brain off to.  Which is unfortunate.   

Petty

I was paying my bills today, and noticed that I had an additional charge on my trash collection bill for "An extra bag, bin or can".  I have NEVER left anything for collection that didn't fit in my bins, so I have absolutely no idea where this came from.  It was only an extra $5, but I don't want to pay this so let's see what they say to my e-mail about it.  There has been an occasion before where I noticed somebody left some of their rubbish in my bins - it looked like construction stuff, so some a-hole builder dumped their stuff in my bins overnight.  I guess that could have happened again - and if it didn't fit in the bins then that might have caused the charge.  But I shouldn't have to pay for that.  If anything, they should pay me for picking up all the litter that gets left by the road outside my place. 

Yet more photos of Lake Union

Since it was a grey, wet, miserable day today, here are a few photos from a sunset walk around Lake Union yesterday whilst waiting for the commute time from work to home to come down to a reasonable time (I've started having to leave later and later...)

End of Summer

Yesterday was the first day that I thought about turning on my heating again - so, sadly, that is officially the end of summer.  I managed to resist, but it's even colder tonight so I might have to welcome back enormous heating bills again soon.  It even snowed over the mountain passes this week - this doesn't seem indicative of the long term forecast of a weak to moderate El Nino this winter, which should mean drier and warmer conditions.

Presidential Alert

Yes, I was one of the millions today who received a presidential alert on their mobile phone testing a national alert system.  So if Canada or Mexico start a land invasion, or North Korea fires a nuclear missile in our direction – at least we’ll get some sort of advanced warning.  We can’t opt out of these alerts, so if Trump decides to start using this system to share his entirely coherent and rational twitter feed then I won’t be happy.   

Le Golf

A comment on the Ryder Cup has been requested.  Got to be honest, didn't watch any of it - I just cannot bear to watch golf live, it is so so boring, and the time difference didn't help things - but mightily enjoyed the result.  Especially satisfying to see Tiger Woods not win a single point - someone who I haven't liked for a long time (and hate the way the American media totally fawn over him), and the epitome of a total non-team player.  And even more satisfying to read about some of the fallout from the pasting - with American players finger pointing and getting in fights afterwards.  Hilarious and embarrassing.  I have quite a few friends out here who a big golfers, so very enjoyable to rub the result in their faces.     

Glory Box

It’s a sad state of affairs when I see a TV ad for the iPhone that uses music from one of my favorite mid-90’s bands, followed by a credit card ad that uses music from Prince.  Is no music too good now to use in advertising?  What a sellout – what a shame.