Song of the Week #64

Sadly, this song only makes me think of Marmite.

Euro 2020: Round of 16 Thoughts

Hmmm, well I guess I need to rethink this post because I was sure that Germany were going to beat England.  So let's start with that:

- A headline I saw before the game read "England vs Germany vs England Neuroses", and I thought that was hilariously accurate.  And then I read a headline after the game saying "England advances to quarterfinals with impressive win over Germany", and I thought that was hilariously inaccurate.  Impressive?!?!  Come on now.  Let's not get carried away - yes to beat Germany in a major tournament for the first time in forever is a big deal - but we were so so lucky.  Germany had the better chances, and were slightly better during what was a tight and tense game.  I still see so many faults with England's selection and formation - how Jack Grealish doesn't start is beyond me, he is a game-changer, and I don't think Harry Kane should be captain or a starter.  For a team with a preponderance of young, exciting, offensive players, we should be playing as many of them as we can and play an attacking style at a much higher pace and tempo.  And, most importantly, we should be playing in our red jerseys - our best jerseys.

- And let's look at the draw, what an amazing opportunity it is for England.  Their half of the draw is so open - perhaps even Denmark are the favorites on that side now after their demolition of Wales and having the most to play for.  It's yet another quirk of how messed up the tournament structure has been.  England can probably feel justified in playing this horrible conservative way if it gets them to the final - and despite not being the hosts, have had this important advantage over everyone else of playing all but the quarter final game at home.

- I didn't expect this, but France going out was a big shocker.  In fact, a lot of the favorites kind of struggled - Italy and Spain had to survive extra time, Holland and France disappointed.  Those 2 games on Monday involving Spain and France were really chaotic and really good - such massive momentum swings.  Being engrossed by those games definitely helped me endure the baking temperatures.  Whereas the theoretically more interesting Portugal-Belgium game was such a snoozefest that I actually fell asleep during it and missed most of it.  But Belgium got through, and they are still my big favorites to win it all.    

Even Higher Triple Digits

I haven't checked the news this evening, but I'm fairly sure we set new record highs in Portland and Seattle today.  Where I am, it got up to 108F/42C today.  Unbearable.  Even as I'm writing this, just after 9 pm this evening, it's currently 90F/32C in my living room, about the same temperature outside.  And the thermostat in my bedroom reads as 96F/36C - I've just turned my portable AC unit on, so hopefully it will cool down enough for me to be able to get some sleep.  Absolutely unbearable.  There is some relief coming tomorrow, but it's still going to be quite a hot day (in the 90s).  But hopefully I can at least go out for a hike tomorrow morning - I haven't been able to get out for some exercise for the last few days, the heat is just too much.  I did some Ring Fit Adventure this morning, and I don't think I've ever sweated so much.  I had to consume so much liquid today just to stay hydrated.  I saw a rabbit this evening basking under a tree next to my driveway, so I decided to leave a bowl of water out for it - he didn't look in good shape, so I hope it helps.  Apparently the roads in our region have been cracking under the heat.  And a load of cooling stations have popped up around the region to help people out - apparently all the local hotels are also booked out, at exorbitant rates, as people seek accommodations with AC.  A historic day.  Naturally, the next big risk is from wildfires. It's no surprise that we now have a burn ban in effect (hopefully my neighbor will abide by this!).     

Triple Digits

Although I didn't quite reach triple digits yesterday (I think it maxed out at 99F/37C), I did today.  According to my weather app, it got up to 103F/39C and felt like 109F/43C where I live.  Inside my home it got up to 87F/31C where it's supposed to be cool (and that's downstairs, it's probably a lot hotter upstairs).  I bought some bananas on Friday and they are already over-ripe today thanks to the heat.  I am a hot, sweaty mess.  This is horrific.  You get some relief at night when it's a bit cooler, but even with my portable AC unit going in my bedroom it's still uncomfortably hot.  I'm almost tempted to try to sleep outside tonight.  At least it's not humid.  This certainly puts some perspective on where I want to retire to - could I handle these hot temperatures in retirement?  Probably fine with AC - the lack of which is really turning this into a nightmare.  Most people don't have AC here - which is why these extreme temperatures are such a big deal.  Just for perspective - Portland, Oregon reached an all-time temperature high yesterday and then beat it today at 112F/44C, just north of the border Canada reached an all-time temperature high today in British Columbia of 47C, and Seattle reached an all-time temperature high today of 104F/40C.  And tomorrow is going to be worse.  Oh my.

Spiders

I don't know if this is because of the warm temperatures, and that I've been leaving a lot of my windows open overnight, but I seem to be finding more spiders in my home than ever before.  And they're bigger than ever before.  And even if I don't find spiders, I'm finding their cobwebs everywhere.  I'm not the kind of person that scoops up spiders in a glass and deposits them outside somewhere.  Nope, they get squashed.  Perhaps this is their revenge - I am being targeted.       

Fan + Ice

I notice a common hack for cooling a room involves putting a bowl of ice in front of a fan.  So I decided to try that today.  And it didn't seem to make a jot of difference.  Very disappointing.  Thank god my freezer has an ice dispenser, so I can experiment further (current forecast has a high of 106 Fahrenheit [41 Celsius] on Monday, so I think I'm going to need to do everything I can to cool my home down!).      

Scorchio!

Oh boy, we have some hot weather forecast this weekend.  In fact, so hot that an excessive heat watch is in effect from Friday afternoon through Monday evening with “Dangerously hot conditions with afternoon highs in the 90s and near 100 possible Saturday through Monday”.  100 Fahrenheit is about 38 Celsius.  That’s just where I’m located – I think it is going to be significantly hotter south of Seattle, with an excessive heat warning there and potentially record-breaking highs in SW Washington and NW Oregon.  I’ve decided to cancel my plans to spend a few days in Oregon, and I’ll try to go sometime after 4th July instead.  The Oregon coast, which is where I was planning on going, is probably a little cooler than inland but is still going to be uncomfortably hot for what I really want to do e.g. hiking.  I suspect this summer could be a bad one with this kind of heat so early in the season – wildfires could be a real issue later on in the year.  And I’m already struggling with how hot my house becomes with just a little bit of heat, so I might end up sleeping downstairs this weekend.  I did use the second Prime Day to order some heat control window film that I’m going to try to put up on a couple of windows upstairs to see if that helps block some of the sun rays coming in.  And today, I came across an excellent deal for one of those Dyson bladeless tower fans – it is factory refurbished so less than half the retail price, but I decided to chance it and I’ve ordered one because they are supposed to be really effective. 

Post-blog note: the forecast has been updated, our Excessive Heat Watch has now been upgraded to an Excessive Heat Warning - "Dangerously hot conditions with highs warming to the 90s and peaking above 100 degrees on Sunday and Monday".  Yikes.

Euro 2020: Matchday 3 Thoughts

The next 2 days are going to feel weird without any football games on.  Because it's very quiet at work, I've been sitting down to watch a lot of the games.  At least I can go out for a lunchtime walk for a few days rather than sit on my ass in front of the telly!

- Today's games were good.  It started with watching Spain, since they had to win.  But as soon as they had that game sewn up, I switched to Sweden vs Poland and that was much closer.  Sweden are one of those teams that you kind of write off yet they're always there - good for them for topping the group.  We could potentially face them in the second consecutive quarter final in a major tournament.

- But first we had to see who we were going to face in the round of 16.  Started with France vs Portugal, but then Hungary went ahead and it got very interesting as I started to switch between games.  That France vs Portugal game was the first game that had some really poor refereeing and VAR - some terrible penalty decisions.  But it was fascinating how the standings changed throughout these games.  It was almost inevitable that it would end up with Germany finishing 2nd in the group and facing us.  But I think I'd rather have Germany at home than Spain at a neutral venue, which is what would have happened if we'd drawn against Czech Republic.

- Talking about that game, England were better against the Czechs than against the Scots, but barely.  The first 20 or so minutes were good, then the game kind of got away from both teams and it was not very memorable.  I think we needed a statement win, in much the same way that Spain did today, but it just wasn't there.  Despite our potential, I worry about how we'll do against Germany.

- What about the other contenders?  Belgium, Netherlands and Italy all came away with 9 points and looking like contenders.  And congrats to Wales for making it through, and with a winnable game against Denmark next - though I don't fancy their chances against the "feel-good" story of the tournament.  Everybody else - don't care.

- So, 2 games really stand out in the round of 16 - Belgium vs Portugal could be interesting, and naturally England vs Germany.  I'd be surprised if Italy, France, Spain and Netherlands don't win their games, and the other 2 games are relative toss-ups.  I don't expect many surprises.     

Song of the Week #63

I went to university in both Bath and Leicester, 2 big rugby union cities.  And I went to see both local teams when I lived there.  However, neither are the team I support.  The team I support isn't even the one nearest to my home town.  No, it's the one nearest where my family live now, and the last team I went to see play (at Twickenham no less).  It is Harlequins.  And after watching (on replay) their glorious and amazing extra time win over the weekend, coming back from only a 28-0 deficit, then this has to be the song of the week (even though the song is about an Eskimo or something).

Prime Day

Prime Day started today, and did I get anything?  Did I heck.  I certainly had a look, but there is just so much stuff on sale that I just get overwhelmed and give up.  There are really only 2 things I want right now - a new laptop and a PS5.  I did order a new laptop today, not from Amazon but from one of it's online competitors who was also having a sale.  I got about 25% off an Acer Aspire 5, for those interested.  As for the PS5 - still practically impossible to get one.  The nearest I came was last week where I managed to get into an online queue for one, but they were sold out well before they got to me.  I can wait.  The Prime Day continues tomorrow - but I really can't be bothered to spend hours searching around for something on sale that I don't really need.   

YouTube

Oh YouTube, you are a constant source of amusement and bemusement.

Euro 2020: Matchday 2 Thoughts

Now that the 2nd round of games have finished, we are finally heading towards the business end of the tournament.  When games really matter.  This is normally the time when we can start to trim the fat, sort the men out from the boys, and identify the contenders from the pretenders.  But an awful lot of questions remain, lets go through each group:

- Group A: are Italy for real?  2 good wins against 2 mediocre opponents - difficult to say.  And have they peaked too early?  But playing well and with confidence - definitely ones to watch.  And looks like Wales will advance too - have they got another run in them like the last Euros?  (No)

- Group B: are Belgium for real?  Impressive to come through the difficult circumstances of that game against Denmark with a win.  As with most of the contenders, have some defensive failings - but I think they are the team to beat.   

- Group C: are Netherlands for real?  Now this is a really difficult one to judge.  They've won both their games, but not exactly impressively.  And I don't trust their manager one bit, whose stint as the manager of Palace was a spectacular failure.  Given all that, they'll probably go really far now.  

- Group D: are England for real?  An emphatic no.  Nuff said.

- Group E: are Spain for real?  Now this is an interesting one.  2 games, 2 draws.  It's not like they're playing badly - just lacking that finishing touch.  Which is why despite needing a result in their last group game, I think they'll get it.  But a lot of possible permutations in how this group ends up, which is what you want.

- Group F: ah, the group of death.  And by far the best group.  Are France or Germany or Portugal for real?  God knows.  I thought France might be for real, but they really screwed the pooch against Hungary.  And then Germany showed up against Portugal, leaving this group wide open.  Once again they have the best match-up in the next round of games - with France against Portugal.  Portugal are probably my least favorite team in the tournament - led by that preening diva Ronaldo - so I won't be sad if they get knocked out.   

The Auld Enemy

I wore my England shirt this morning, by the afternoon I had to change out of it such was my shame and embarrassment.  What a lackluster performance - horribly disappointing.  If this is some nefarious plan to finish 2nd in our group to avoid the harder draw, then kudos.  But if not, then whatever glimmer of optimism I had for our national side has quickly evaporated.  This is the England I've come to know and to have disappointed me for so many years.  So frustrating.  I don't think it was because Scotland played particularly well - though at least they showed some character - I just think with the team we've got that we should be performing so much better.  Ironically, now I think I would be happy with another goalless draw in our last group game.

Sore Legs

I think I've been doing too many squats on Ring Fit Adventure recently, because I went for a lunchtime walk yesterday at one of my regular trails and it was an unexpected struggle to complete thanks to some really aching legs.  That'll teach me to try to get fitter!  Some of the exercises in Ring Fit Adventure are not going well - there isn't enough room in front of my telly to really stretch out like I want to (and also my ceiling is too low when I have to hold the ring above me!).  And as someone whose lack of balance has plagued me throughout my entire life, some of the yoga type skills are a real struggle as well (e.g. I cannot maintain a good tree pose without wobbling all over the place!).  But I shall persist as best as I can.

Songs of the Week #62

Notice the plural in the title of this post - because yes, we have not just 1 song this week but 3, and from 3 different decades.  Consider this a random tribute to a certain Mr Paul Weller - an iconic and influential artist who is barely known this side of the pond.  I could have done so many combinations of songs, there is such a good selection to choose from - but I've plumped for these.  Enjoy! 

Euro 2020: Matchday 1 Thoughts

OK, now that all the teams have played once, here are some initial thoughts on the tournament:

- Let's not BS around, it should be called Euro 2021 rather than Euro 2020.  It's just stupid keeping it with last year in the name.

- There are too many teams in the tournament now.  The Euros used to be more prestigious than the World Cup, mainly because there were no easy games.  That's no longer the case. 

- Isn't it good to have fans at the game, even in a limited capacity, rather than have to endure the piped-in artificial crowd noise.  Games are infinitely better when there is a decent atmosphere. 

- We haven't had a VAR controversy yet.  Don't worry, it's coming.

- Not actually that many games I've watched all the way through.  I tend to watch replays so that I can fast forward through to the goals and/or half-time/full-time highlights.  Exceptions have included the England game, and the France/Germany game today - which was probably the biggest heavyweight match-up in this round of fixtures.  I suspect I will watch more as we get further into the tournament.

- Also, hate the early kickoffs - which are 6 am local time for me and therefore too early to watch live.  So I didn't watch either the England game or Scotland game live.  I could probably make an effort to avoid knowing the score before watching the replay, but in the case of the England game I knew the result before watching which definitely took something away from the experience.

- ESPN have the coverage of the Euros here.  The good thing, all the games have been on their cable channel rather than ESPN+ (their streaming service which I don't have).  The bad thing, the commentary and particularly the studio coverage of the games is not good.  At times, unwatchable.  Really puts in perspective how good the Premier League coverage has been (which is on NBC rather than ESPN), but that has been ruined by showing too many games exclusively on Peacock (NBC's streaming platform).  At least it isn't as bad as CBS, who had the Champions League rights here and whose coverage of that was the absolute worst.

- First impressions of the teams:

• Teams that England can't beat: Belgium, France
• Teams that match up well with England: Spain
• Teams that won 3-0 but who I still think England can beat: Italy, Portugal
• Teams that England can beat and need to beat for the national psyche: Germany
• Teams that England should beat: everyone else

 - Talking of England, I wasn't blown away by their performance but the 3 points was very welcome.  Mentally, that was important - to win our first game, and against the team that beat us at the last World Cup.  I think England can and will perform better, and we still need to work out our best team selection, but I remain quietly optimistic that we can go quite far.  Now watch us put in an absolute stinker against Scotland.    

Tee Hee Hee

My reaction to Czech Republic's second goal against Scotland:

Dogs

I like dogs.  I want a dog.  I want other people to have a dog.  I do not want a dog that looks anything like this.

(Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show - I guess the US equivalent to Crufts)

Sweaty

We don't normally have to deal with humidity, but it was feeling positively tropical today.  I went for my usual neighborhood walk today - and it was a real struggle to get through it.  I was an exhausted and sweaty mess when I got home.  And now it's absolutely chucking down.  My god, it's like I'm back in Texas again.

Sports

So, it's a good weekend for sports.  I shall be watching the European Championship, NHL (ice hockey) playoffs, NBA (basketball) playoffs, rugby, motor racing, tennis, baseball, boxing, MMA and Australian-rules football.  Hmmm, with all of that I think there will be a lot more watching of highlights than actual whole games.  Thank god - some sports (I'm particularly looking at you baseball) are absolutely intolerable in real time.

Summer TV

Oh dear, it looks like a particularly bleak landscape for quality TV shows on cable this summer.  I look at the scheduled recordings on my DVR, and if we take away sports then we're only looking at a handful of shows per week.  That's not a lot.  What does that mean?  Is it finally time to cut the cord?  We're definitely close.  But first of all, I think I've got to clear my DVR - which I've somehow let build up again with films and shows since the start of the year.  I've already made a start - just finished the last season of Fargo (a consistently good show, hampered by miscast leads for this particular season), and just watched The Lobster (a 2015 film that might be one of the weirdest films I've ever seen, but I liked it a lot - 4 out of 5).  But I have already started to incorporate some streaming shows into my schedule from the streaming services that I do have (HBO Max and Amazon Prime).  For example, can highly recommend the comedy series Hacks - I just watched the season finale today.  I'm sick to death of the increasing number of crappy game shows on cable TV - so I expect the amount of streaming shows I consume to dramatically increase as I finally approach cutting the cord.       

International Travel

I’ve been wondering how feasible it is to travel to the UK right now.  And I don’t think we’re quite there yet.  Trying to find information about international travel requirements, particularly for re-entering the US, is a bureaucratic nightmare – different federal departments have different guidelines, and there are also local and state restrictions as a nice bonus.  Fundamentally – at least from the US side – is that all nonessential international travel is still not recommended.  If you’re vaccinated, then the good news (as best as I could tell) is that you don’t need to quarantine.  Lots of testing – you have to have negative COVID tests before and after you fly back to the US - but other than “self-monitoring” for symptoms I don’t see any other requirements.  However, I think the US has still barred entry to all non-US citizens who have been to the UK – I’m not a citizen, just a lawful permanent resident, so I’m not entirely sure if this applies to me.  I’m about 90% sure it doesn’t – I think I have the same right to enter the US as a US citizen.  On the UK side, the US is still on the amber list.  Which again means multiple negative COVID tests (before, and twice after you arrive – which you have to pay for in advance!) plus 10 days quarantine.  You can quarantine with friends or family, but essentially you have to stay inside in the same place for 10 days.  It says “you should stay in a well ventilated room separate from other people in your home”, “you cannot have visitors” and “you cannot leave the premises where you’re in quarantine” (i.e. not even allowed to go shopping!).  Kind of ridiculous and restrictive, and I would be curious to know how much they enforce these rules.  It does say that NHS Test and Trace will contact you daily, but that probably just means a quick text, e-mail or phone call.  It also says “you may be visited by someone carrying out checks on behalf of the government to make sure you’re complying with your legal duty to quarantine” – but I suspect the chances of that happening are very slim indeed.  But bottom line, I wouldn’t want to visit the UK just yet if I have to quarantine, and especially if there is even the slightest chance I couldn’t re-enter the US!  But it does look as though there are direct flights between Seattle and London running again.

Song of the Week #61

We're going back to the early 90's this week, with something that I remember from when it was in the charts - but I don't think I've heard it again in nearly 30 years.

Shot of a Lifetime

As predicted, Washington state now has a vaccine lottery.  4 weekly drawings for $250,000 plus one drawing for $1,000,000.  Plus I think there are prizes from some of the big local companies (think Amazon, Microsoft, Alaska Airlines, etc.) and sports tickets also up for grabs.  I think the first drawing is tomorrow.  Apparently we are automatically entered if we have a vaccination record on the state vaccine database.  That was something I checked after my first vaccination, so I should be good.  Though obviously I won't win.  Also, somewhat predictably, our state is now offering joints for jabs (one pre-rolled joint when you get vaccinated)....    

Water pressure

There's been a problem with my hot water tank pressure valve, so my landlord fitted a pressure regulator yesterday.  And it's a nightmare.  The water pressure in my home has now halved, and it's pitiful.  I can't have a decent shower (I've just ordered a high pressure shower head that should arrive tomorrow, so let's see if that makes a difference), but it's not just that.  The water coming out of the taps (faucets) has noticeably less pressure now - especially downstairs - and even the toilet flush seems different (though I don't think the actual flushing mechanism should be affected, just the time it takes to refill the tank).  I think I need to speak to my landlord to see if we can get the water pressure back to anywhere nearer the level it was before.  If not, then I don't know what to do - if I can make the shower at least half decent, then I could probably live with it.  My extensive plumbing knowledge (i.e. the internet) suggests that you can adjust the regulator to increase the pressure - so I am hopeful this is not a permanent issue.  But maybe I've just been spoiled with having high water pressure all this time, and now it's just been "normalized"...  

Rocky

So I was arriving back at my home yesterday morning, when I saw a flash of grey disappear into the undergrowth by the side of my driveway.  I didn't think anything of it, assuming it was just Nutkin - the neighborhood squirrel, who I frequently see and who isn't shy about scurrying across my patio (I guess it could also have been a rabbit, but I haven't seen any in my yard for the last few months so that didn't cross my mind).  But as I got out of the car, then I heard the chorus of chirruping by numerous birds.  There they were on various branches and on my power line, but their attention was not directed at me but at the same section of undergrowth where I had seem movement.  This was no squirrel, this was a predator.  So I went over for a closer look, and it didn't take me long to locate and lock eyes with the interloper:     

Again, apologies for the poor iPhone picture quality, but yes hopefully you can see that face looking back at me from up the tree.  Let's name him Rocky.  Perhaps being up the tree gave him a sense of security, because he held my gaze.  And even when I moved around a bit he mirrored my movements and maintained eye contact.  Only when I'd gone to retrieve the groceries from my car, and came back to see him descending the tree did he scuttle off.  Though not without making a load of noise, I hissed back at him and he was quiet after that - the only sound left being the loud chirruping of birds that had never stopped.  I wonder if I'll ever see him (or her) again?  

Annoying

During a Skype call yesterday, my webcam decided not to work properly.  It still shows video, but now I can't seem to add any background effects or anything to the image.  A very minor detail that I don't think I ever use, at least not on my personal computer, but I have become obsessed in trying to fix it.  And despite spending hours and hours on it last night, I can't for the life of me find a resolution.  So very frustrating, despite it being such a minor inconvenience.  But it's just one of a number of little issues that have started to add up on my laptop - from taking increasingly long to start up, to randomly shutting down, to having all kinds of different problems when I try to connect a device to it via USB.  So I think it might be time to get a new laptop (preferably not Dell this time, who I am increasingly fed up with).  I'm not entirely sure how long I've had this laptop for, but it doesn't seem like I got my money's worth.  However, it appears opportune that Prime Day is coming up in a few week's time, so hopefully I'll be able to get a decent laptop at a reduced price then.       

Lunchtime Walks

I realize I haven't posted photos from any walks/hikes I've done recently, and that's mainly because I haven't been anywhere new or worthy of taking any.  But that changed on a lunchtime walk I did this week, on a gorgeous late springtime day.  Just a couple of photos, but it's a start.  It was from a place called Evans Creek Preserve, about a 1/2 hour drive away - so definitely a bit more than just a one hour lunch break!  It's somewhere I've been to once before, but that was during winter when a lot of the trails were closed - they are all open now, and I really like it there.  Not too busy, a decent and attractive 4 to 5 mile loop with enough elevation change to make it a decent workout, and enough variety that I can choose some different routes if I go again (which I will).

Delays

This is not untypical in my industry, and certainly not untypical to me, but all the timelines for the study I'm supposed to be working on have been pushed back for a month, maybe 2.  So it appears that I'm going to be not busy for a while longer.  Which is kind of a mixed blessing.  I'd rather be not busy enough than being too busy, but it's been a long time since I've been in that sweet spot between the two extremes (and for most of the pandemic I haven't been busy at all, but I've had to be available in case something crops up - so it's not like I can just tune out totally).  Maybe I can take some more vacation time before the work really kicks in (we have a scheduled week off around 4th July, so maybe I can add another week to make a very nice 2 week break?).  Conversely, it probably means that I'm going to be even more busy and even more under pressure once the study actually starts - and I bet that will include during the time that I want to and am able to finally visit the UK again.  Because that's Sod's Law (or as the Americans call it, Murphy's Law).  I'm going to try to come back at the first viable opportunity (i.e. no quarantining) - and I don't care what that means for work and whatever timelines I might be working towards at that time.  I've already hinted as much to my manager, but I'm not sure it went down particularly well.  So be it.  Some things are more important than work.

Song of the Week #60

A very Beatles-esque song for you this week.  Enjoy!