Is baseball ... enjoyable?

Only when this kind of thing happens (a bad language warning, but it is the best breakdown I've seen):

Hope this video doesn't get blocked wherever you view it - this is definitely better than the normal handbags you see (but ice hockey has the best fights).

Best Laid Plans

Well, this is disappointing.  Had plans to go sailing, fishing and camping this weekend.  I’ve never sailed before, I’ve never fished before, and it’s been many, many years since I last slept in a tent.  But today, saw my friend’s sailboat for the first time.  Oh boy.  It is a LOT smaller than I thought it would be.  With 4 of us on this boat, and 4 “heavyset” guys at that, and with at least 6 hours journey time on the boat to look forward to, plus however many hours fishing and whatever, that seems like an extremely long time in an extremely cramped space.  I’m having major second thoughts about doing this.  Despite my preparations – I’ve bought a tent, a sleeping bag and an oversized folding chair for the trip.  But with one friend having already pulled out claiming it is due to suffering from motion sickness (I don’t believe him, I think he just wants to play golf), me having doubts and my other friend not seeming particularly keen and having already said he might have other plans for the weekend, it doesn’t look good.  I was looking forward to it, but now having seen the boat I am a lot less enthusiastic – I think my friend who owns the boat and his dad (who was going to replace my friend who has already pulled out) will do the trip regardless, but I don’t want to be a third wheel in that situation.  Perhaps I am exaggerating about how small it is, and perhaps it is my total inability to step out of my comfort zone that is affecting how I see this, but being confined to this small and uncomfortable seating area for the entire journey and not being able to move around the boat (because with my total lack of dexterity, lack of sense of balance and a lack of railings then there is every chance I would fall into the water), I’m not sure how relaxing the trip would be.  It’s probably the kind of thing I will regret not doing – but I’m thinking going out in the boat for a 1 or 2 hour cruise might be a better idea to see what it’s like before committing to a weekend.  I’m too old for this ship.

Boris

Recommend you check out John Oliver's feature on Boris Johnson on last night's episode of Last Week Tonight.  Enjoyable and not exactly flattering.  But then Oliver ruined it by denigrating prawn cocktail crisps.  Nope - sorry Mr Oliver, but they are the best flavor crisp and I dearly miss them here.  Shame.

Movies

Been watching a series called The Movies recently, which basically goes over the movies of each decade.  We've had episodes on the 80's, 90's and 2000's so far - a period of time that is right in my wheelhouse.  Inevitably it's very open to debate as to which movies they should focus on in each decade.  For the most part they've covered the films that I would.  But today's episode was a more interesting one because it featured the 70's - a decade I'm obviously a lot less familiar with, but is arguably the best decade for films ever.  At least that's what I think - too many classic films to list here.  But my overriding sentiment coming out of watching this episode - how the hell how I never watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind?  Ever.  Call myself a film fan?  Shameful.

Comcast, at it again

Comcast - my least favorite company in America - has done it again.  Just for some history - I have had issues with Comcast ever since I've had to use their service as my only choice of cable and internet provider for all the time I've been in Seattle.  From connectivity issues, to reception issues, to excessive billing, to extraordinarily bad customer service - it's just been one thing after another.  And the latest issue may be the final straw that finally pushes me over the edge to cutting the cord and fully embracing streaming.  I pay a ridiculous amount of money for the TV package I've got, which includes something like 260 channels (of which maybe 220 are totally redundant to me).  But as I was channel-hopping last night, I was getting an error when I got to one of the channels I do watch - and then after resetting my cable box, it told me I had to subscribe to watch this channel.  What the hell?  I thought I was paying for this channel and that it was part of my package.  Then some quick internet research reveals that Comcast have taken this channel out of all their packages recently, and charging extra to subscribe to it.  This is absolutely disgraceful, but apparently it's something they're allowed to do.  I'm frankly surprised that there wasn't a lot more attention and righteous fury about this on the internet - but perhaps that's because less and less people bother with a cable service.  What is most frustrating is that I have been watching a series on this channel - but now I'm going to miss the last couple of episodes.  Just great.  I can't deal with their customer service and trying to speak to somebody about this over the phone - but I think I'm going to make an appointment at the local Comcast store and try to speak someone face-to-face about trying to get this channel back and reducing my bill.  Which is going to be fun.       

Watch

I finally got round to getting the strap adjusted on my new watch so that it fits me, and it looks good – nothing flashy, just an Invicta Pro Diver.  Probably the chunkiest watch I’ve ever owned and worn, for an automatic it seems to keep remarkably good time so far – certainly better than my last watch, which was an automatic Seiko which I had to correct the time on every few days.  And it is definitely a “James Bond”-esque watch – if I was to replace the metal strap with a colored nylon band, then it would look similar to the Rolex that Bond wore in Dr No and Goldfinger.  But I probably won’t bother – I’m not really into the whole James Bond watch thing, and I’m certainly not going to shell out thousands of pounds on one of the licensed James Bond Omega watches.  But even though I’ve only been wearing my new watch for less than a week, I’ve already noticed some wear on the clasp.  And I’ve discovered why – it is the underneath of my wrist, right where the clasp is, scraping on the desk when I’m typing.  I’ve got a wrist rest, but that doesn’t seem to have made much of a difference.  That’s unfortunate – but I’m not going to take my watch off every time I have to type, so just something I’ll have to live with.

Rutger Hauer

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

Classic scene.  Classic film.  I need to rewatch it (especially since I’ve got a limited edition DVD of it).

Moles 3-4 Me (F)

3 days without any new molehills, have I finally vanquished you?  I hereby declare victory.  I was able to crush your second front – the  wasp’s nest – effortlessly like the Undead crushed the Dothraki in the Battle of Winterfell.  Half a can of wasp spray and then covering the entry hole to the nest with some leftover tile seemed to result in momentary chaos and then an emphatic lack of activity.  But then you countered with a commendable blitz of activity, the likes of which have never been seen on the battlefield before.  In the course of one night, 8 new molehills popped up.  Yes, 8.  A stunning show of defiance – but it wasn’t enough as by then I had brought in reinforcements.  My landlord got involved in the fight – and brought with him the tool that would finally turn the tide of war.  A trowel.  Suddenly I was able to dig through your defenses and more precisely locate the tunnels from which you have been taunting me – and now there is no way you couldn’t see the tasty poisoned treats I left there for you, this time not covered with collapsed earth.   So your remains presumably lie rotting somewhere underground – like the battlefield remains of the young in the First World War, you are gone but not forgotten.  Or maybe you’ve just relocated to my landlord’s yard, where I saw some new molehills have appeared.  Either way, it is not my war any more.  Don’t come back – you lost, and you would dishonor the memory of the fallen.   

Congrats to the new PM of the United Kingston

Well, I guess you’ve got a no-deal Brexit to look forward to on Oct 31.  That will be fun – and have absolutely no devastating consequences to the British economy and the prices/availability of most things…  What a clown Boris is – but the perfect mirror to Trump over here.  The Western world is really going down the sh*tter.

Windows 10

Had to get my work computer finally updated to Windows 10 today – I guess the older versions of Windows are really becoming redundant.  I’ve got Windows 10 on my main laptop at home, so it’s not like I’m totally unfamiliar with the new look and everything.  But that still doesn’t mean I like it.  And I certainly don’t like the fact that I’m used to doing my work in a particular way on my computer, and now I have to readjust.  A classic symptom of getting old and not wanting to change!  With the Windows update also came updates to other applications, and the biggest one is perhaps to the one we use the most at work -  Office Outlook, our main e-mail system.  It looks really different to what we had before and not better – and I’m certainly not the only one to notice this.  For years we’ve been complaining about the fact that we had these ancient browsers on our computer that hadn’t been upgraded and didn’t let us open loads of pages on the internet properly – and now things seem to have gone the totally opposite direction and suddenly we’ve had all these major updates and upgrades foisted on us when most of us are not ready for them.  Wherever you work, don’t you just love the IT group…

Wasted Weekend

My laptop battery is about to die, so let me make this quick.  Despite having some spectacular summer weather this weekend, I somehow contrived to waste it by staying up late, waking up late, pontificating over chores, pontificating over going somewhere, and in the end not doing much of anything.  Disappointing.  I need to be more decisive, and I need to make better use of my weekends.  My fear is that this kind of weekend becomes my new norm - I can't let that happen....

Symbolism

A sad realization today that I am above the recommended weight capacity for my folding camp chair.  And have been for a while.  I would have known this before if I had even got the chair once out of it's carrying bag sometime in the last 10 years.  I'm not even sure why I have the chair in the first place - the last time I went camping was over 20 years ago.  It is the kind of item that might have been given as a company gift in year's gone by - but this does look like an actual purchase.  What optimistic ambitions I must've had... 

Nightmares

I've been having a lot of nightmares about spiders recently.  Not sure why.

Boat Excursion

We had a department team-building event today – basically a 2 hour catered tourist-like boat tour departing from downtown Seattle.  Our second such event in as many years - it seems like it might be becoming a regular thing.  Considering we’ve had a lot of rain recently, we were lucky with the weather - dry but enough cloud cover so at least I didn’t get sun burnt this time!  But the thing that most bothered me was that for a team-building event, there were a bunch of people there I had no idea who they were.  It seems like one of the functions within our department decided to invite a load of their management up to Seattle from our Californian headquarters with remarkably convenient timing so that they could gatecrash our event.  Very shady, kind of defeated the object of the team-building exercise – these are people most of us don’t know and will never interact with - and frankly really pissed me off.  I’m not aware that anyone in my department in the Seattle office ever gets invited to any similar corresponding events in California – so this seems like a major double standard.  We had a trivia quiz during the trip, which my team didn’t win – which was disappointing, especially because one of the questions inaccurately specified that I won the table tennis tournament and so we controversially got that question wrong and subsequently lost.  Talk about rubbing it in.  But then my mood was appeased by winning a $50 gift certificate in the raffle.  All in all, a pleasant excursion and distraction from the monotony and repetitiveness of an ordinary work day! 

I haven’t added many photos to this blog recently, so here are way too many of the Seattle skyline.  I’ll also try to change that this weekend, when it seems our weather is going to take a significant turn for the better.  I need to decide where to go, and then actually follow through on that.  I did buy some annual state and national park passes the other day – so I need to make full use of them!    

Lottery

A $12.3 million winning lottery ticket sold at my local grocery store remains unclaimed – despite being sold 2 weeks ago.  This grocery store is very local and not very well frequented, the grocery store and the local pizza restaurant is the entirety of the “high street”, so it is extremely likely that it is someone in the neighborhood who bought the ticket.  Sadly, it wasn’t me.  But then again, I don’t think I’ve ever bought a state lottery ticket.  I have only ever bought tickets for the Powerball or Mega Millions, which are big multi-state lotteries, and only when their jackpots start to get outlandishly huge (close to, or even over, the billion dollar mark) and make the news.  If my blog suddenly goes quiet – there is probably about a 0.0000001% chance it is because I’ve entered and won the lottery.

Misc

Some facts:

-        Yes, Trump is racist, has always been racist and will always be racist

-        No, the Cricket World Cup should not be shared

-        No, aliens do not exist but the million people who RSVPed to a Facebook event to break into Area 51 should still do it

-        No, Formula 1 is not in the least bit exciting

-        Yes, the American coverage of the Tour de France is absolutely awful and so I’ve hardly watched any of it this year so far

-        No, Boris Johnson will not be a good prime minister

-        No, I don’t give a crap about the Democratic primary debates

-        Yes, Prime Day is a total swizz

-        No, even I couldn’t bring myself to shelling out well over $1000 for a case of James Bond trading cards

-        Yes, Succession is the TV show I’m most looking forward to this summer 

Words

My 2 least favorite words in the current English lexicon – “internet personality”.

Moles 2-0 Me

You've survived my offense successfully so far, but it can't last forever.  Go on - keep on digging up your molehills and I will continue to lay my poison down.  Eventually, you've succumb to the lure of those tasty-looking teats.  You can't continue to elude me forever.  As I still recover from the groin strain that you caused me, my determination to defeat you is stronger than ever.  But wait, what's this?  Have you pulled in some allies?  As I look for new molehills, I stumble upon a wasp's nest in the ground.  Probably thriving in one of the tunnels you created.  Now I must wage war on two fronts.  Well played sir.  Well played.   

Poker

The 2019 World Series of Poker is currently airing – and I find it to be something very suited to putting on in the background whilst I’m doing something else.  I don’t play much Texas Hold ‘Em, but I enjoy it a lot when I do.  And I think I can be a pretty good player.  I never really got into playing much online – I think that takes out a lot of the psychology, which is one of the best aspects of the game.  When I watch something like the World Series, I always wonder whether I could ever make it professionally.  I don’t think I could – I’m not one for calculating all the odds, I prefer to play instinctively.  And I also don’t have the patience that a pro needs to have – there have been numerous times in the past when I’ve gone all in far too early and been knocked out of a game.  But a late night game with some friends and some drinks – count me in.

Earthquakes

I’m sure you’ve seen all the news recently about earthquakes hitting California.  Well last night, we had one of our own here.  Nowhere near the same intensity – a 4.6 followed by a 3.5 aftershock.  But it was enough to wake me up – even at 3 am.  Only realized it was an earthquake when I started reading about this morning, but it has been the first one I’ve actually felt here for a long time.  Not strong enough to cause any damage, and not even to knock anything over in my home.  But still, the largest felt in our region for about 18 years and makes you realize that we are also as susceptible to the “big one” as California is.  The epicenter was only 10-15 miles east of where I live, which is a touch disconcerting.  And I probably wouldn’t have survived if it was bigger – I was still half asleep, so I definitely didn’t “drop, cover and hold on” and actually had no idea why I had woken up in my sleepy state.

7 Summits

Attended a talk at our office today given by the first American woman to complete, in the shortest amount of time, the 7 highest summit of each continent.  I think – basically – she was an old school friend of someone in our office, so very random.  The invite said to expect the talk to be exhilarating – I was more there for curiosity, to see if she mentioned the overcrowding issues at Mount Everest that have made the news (she didn’t, though she was actually in one of those photos I’ve seen of the line of people waiting to summit), and maybe a slight bit of jealousy – since I am not and never will be a climber.  I tend to avoid hikes that involve more than 1000 (more realistically 500!) feet of elevation change, so I think my chances of climbing any of the Earth’s highest summits are slim (understatement!).  When I think of Mount Everest mountaineers, I think of boorish posh people with nothing better to do and nothing better to spend their money on – so was curious to see if she fitted the stereotype.  She didn’t – perhaps that is just a British thing!  But she clearly had money.  The cynic in me says this kind of achievement is just a whole bunch of time, effort and expense for a whole bunch of nothing.  But I am jealous that I don’t have many/any kind of comparable life experiences like that.  It’s not that I would do something as extreme as this – I found her nonchalance about how fit you have to be and how dangerous it was quite alarming and disconcerting – but nonetheless it definitely made me feel like I’m missing or have missed out on something in my life.  Something I’m sure I’ll dwell on.  In the meantime, I’ll have nightmares about the photos of frostbitten feet!

Moles 1-0 Me

You might have won the first battle, but I shall win the war – I just bought some mole killer, not mole repellent or a mole trap.  THIS IS SERIOUS.  I AM GOING TO DESTROY YOU.  You shall pay for the mistakes I made with our first skirmish.  Stomping down all your molehills was a fruitless exercise.  Especially when you overexert yourself on the stomping and strain a leg muscle and now you can hardly lift up one of your legs without causing great discomfort and pain.  A foolish error.  But if you continue to dig round my home, then the war must proceed and you have to pay the ultimate price.  In the voice of Ivan Drago – I must break you.

Spat

This is how wars – or at least major diplomatic spats – start.

“We don’t really believe [Trump’s] Administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept.”

This is, in my humble opinion, a stunningly accurate summation of Trump’s administration. 

Come on Theresa May – you’re not going to be in charge for much longer, so show some guts and dignity and stand up to Trump.  He has insulted our ambassador and you – so RETALIATE.  You shelled out all this money on his state visit just a few weeks ago, and this is how he responds.  So say or do something – support the ambassador’s opinions and share some more of your own – sucking up to him only highlights how weak you are and how weak our country is.  Who cares how much you insult him – it won’t be anything he hasn’t already heard – and the temperamental, fickle, petty man-child will quickly move on and direct his ire at something else.  And I think people who matter will actually respect you for it.

Love The Times trolling of Trump on its front page.  There is NO WAY that is accidental.

Reality Shows

In sad news, a US remake of the “UK reality-dating phenomenon”/“insanely addictive reality show” Love Island is going to begin airing here this week.  I predict that (a) I shall not watch a single minute of it, and (b) it will be a massive flop here (they're airing it before the watershed!).

Yard Animals

Animals I like seeing outside my house:

Rabbits
Deer
Birds (with one exception)
Butterflies

Animals I don't like seeing outside my house:

Wasps
Crows
Moles (specifically - evidence of moles)
Cats
Slugs
Spiders
Humans

Inept

Yep, you didn't need me or the UK ambassador to the US to describe a certain somebody and their administration as corrupt, incompetent and insecure.  It doesn't matter - I'm becoming more and more certain that one party's self-destructiveness will result in yet another 4 years of regression and embarrassment.

Symptoms

Apart from my hair falling out - something I am really and increasingly concerned about - the other main symptom I've found of getting older is my inability to concentrate on trying to watch films at home.  I find I either fall asleep, or my mind wonders and I have to pause and/or stop the film because I am not longer following it.  Perhaps it is because the films I'm trying to watch are not particularly good - and there is some truth to that for many of the films on my DVR.  But it is even happening for something like A Star is Born - by all accounts a universally acclaimed and loved film, but one which I have now dozed off within the first 15 minutes on both times I've tried to watch it.  Jeez, I'm already an old man...! 

Happy 4th of July

I wanted to go watch the Seattle fireworks tonight from the deck of my office building, but none of my friends at work were interested and I wasn't going to go by myself - so I'm staying in and feeling sorry for myself tonight.  Maybe not a bad thing as they close all the roads round my office and the traffic getting out after the fireworks is supposed to be absolutely horrendous - the main reason I didn't want to go by myself as I'd have to get there early and be stuck there for many hours before getting home.  So instead I'll just get annoyed by all my neighbors illegally setting off fireworks - which they've already started doing even though it's still a long way from the sun setting.  I'm going to drive up to Canada next Independence Day...

Kickstart

Once again, YouTube delivers.  I had no idea that the theme tune to Kickstart came from an actual popular European song from 1976.  Proof once again of what a great year for music it was.

England 1-2 USA

I would have loved it if England could have beaten the "distasteful" Yanks (miming sipping a cup of tea after scoring – F*CK YOU), but alas it wasn’t to be.  I did wear my red England shirt today, but that was the US jersey color so was kind of confusing to people.  I didn’t watch or stream the game – really couldn’t care too much about enduring 90+ minutes of mediocre quality “soccer” – so instead just followed it via the BBC website.  But I have found the various displays of arrogance by the US in the lead up (probably unnecessarily exaggerated by the UK tabloids) quite nauseating, so I maybe cared about this game a little more than I would normally.  And I still hate VAR with a passion – doesn’t matter whether it is men or women playing, it ruins the flow of the game.  At least I can totally forget about the Women’s World Cup now, despite how much the US media will continue to milk it – with Wimbledon on now, and the Tour de France starting this weekend, I have significantly better alternatives to fill in the sports vacuum.

Nepotism

History, according to the Trump administration.

There are many, many more of these.  Don’t you just love the internet.