Miserable

No, not a reflection on how I'm feeling but a reflection on the weather.  The last 5 days have been shocking - we are talking dark, rainy, depressing days.  We are talking not just 2 but 3 raindrop clouds in the weather forecast each day.  We are talking shortest day of the year amounts of light.  So I've hardly been outside during this time - which is probably why I've developed a backache.  I think I need to modify my attitude and still try to get some outdoor exercise even if its raining - though probably not during 3 drop rain.  Things looks a bit better from tomorrow, but those heady hot summer days seem like a long time ago now. 

Song of the Week #77

There's been too much 70's stuff recently, so today we're returning to the late 90's.  And this will definitely not be to everyone's tastes - this is classic late 90's electronica/funky house/club.  Love the bassline, love the energy.

The Reviews Are in

It seems that No Time to Die is receiving good to mixed reviews.  Which is a touch disappointing.  But it was unlikely to ever be the classic Bond film I hoped it might be.  But hopefully it's a half-decent send off for Daniel Craig.  I haven't decided whether to go to the cinema to watch it when it comes out here, but this does remind me that I need to start rewatching all the other Bond films.  It's been a while.  What I do know is that some extraordinarily expensive Bond-related merchandise has come out now - which is even too much for my deep pockets.  I'm not going to shell out 200 squid on a Bond advent calendar - only a 12 day advent calendar at that.  And I'm definitely not going to shell out 90K on a 007 James Bond Aston Martin DB5 Junior Car (two-thirds scale of a real car).         

Power Cuts

It's been absolutely tipping down for the last couple of days - but it hasn't been accompanied by particularly strong winds.  Nonetheless, the post-summer power outages have started happening.  I woke up this morning to see that the power had gone out and come back on again last night while I was asleep.  No big deal.  But then the power went out again this afternoon, and this was a big deal.  It happened right when I was in the middle of a big programming task for work, and naturally I wasn't saving the program regularly so lost it all when the power and the internet suddenly went out.  Beyond frustrating.  From the outage map, it looked a like a tree had come down on some lines somewhere and knocked out the power for a good 500+ residences.  After the summer we've had, I fear this could be a significantly more common occurrence this year - a lot of trees have sustained damage or just totally died following the prolonged heat we had.  I've already had one tree come down on my driveway.  I think once we get our first decent winter storm of the year with some strong winds, then an awful lot more trees will come down and cause all sorts of problems.  Which will be fun.      

So Tired

I've not been sleeping well recently.  A small part of it might be having watched too much 9/11 documentary footage recently, and it's giving me nightmares.  A larger part of it is undoubtedly my appalling diet and exercise regime.  But the biggest culprit is my mattress.  I've also been suffering from a bad back recently (which could be either a symptom or a cause of my lack of sleep), and I don't think it's coincidence that my getting a bad back started up at the same time I flipped my mattress.  I haven't had the mattress long - but I think it's already messed up, at least on one side.  I should get a new one, and indeed I have my eye on one.  It's not cheap, but I think the extra comfort and durability is worth it.  But then I've got to deal with disposing of the old mattress and setting up the new mattress - neither of which I can easily do myself.  The joys of living alone.  I think I can get a friend to come round to help me out, but everything is such a hassle.  And I'm too tired to deal with it.  

I hate UPS

I've had a couple of deliveries from UPS over the last few days.  Or at least I was supposed to have had a couple of deliveries.  It's been a disaster.  Yesterday, it was getting late and I hadn't received my package yet.  So I checked the delivery status online, and it said it had been delivered to my front door about 15 minutes earlier.  Ermmm, no it hadn't.  So I checked to see if it had been delivered to my landlord's house - but I didn't see anything on his porch.  Then I went over to another neighbors, who I don't know as well - and there it was on their porch.  It didn't look like anyone was home, so I just helped myself to the package and carried it home.  Not looking like a package thief at all (I tried to time the walk back to my home when there weren't any cars passing by - I was almost successful, but must've looked very suspicious to the one car that drove past).  I probably should have rung the doorbell of my neighbors just to check that they were indeed not home - otherwise the situation could've got very messy.  And then I was due to get another delivery today - and this required a signature.  So I couldn't do anything until it got delivered - but as I was checking the delivery status throughout the day, the delivery window was getting later and later.  Extremely frustrating when I wanted to go out.  And then I got an e-mail saying that it had been delivered.  Ermmmm, no it hadn't.  Again.  So again went round to my neighbor's houses to check whether it had been delivered there, and this time actually spoke to both of them.  But they said they hadn't got anything.  I was extremely suspicious about whether the neighbors who had received yesterday's package were lying about today's package, but what can you do.  So rechecked the delivery status, and even though it said it had been delivered it also said that the street number was incorrect and that there may be a delivery delay.  Ermmm, no the street number is correct.  And why enter the status of delivered?  What a fiasco - now the delivery is probably going to be rescheduled for tomorrow and I'm going to have to wait around all day again on the off chance that they actually deliver it to the right address this time.  Not happy.  And I'm due to get another UPS delivery in the week - what more could go wrong.      

Coyote Sighting

I have some very active grey squirrels outside my house - I often see them around, sometimes chasing each other, sometimes going across my patio without a care in the world, sometimes scurrying up the trees, sometimes carrying food, sometimes burying food.  This morning I was watching a squirrel through my kitchen window - it looked like it had pilfered an apple from my neighbor's yard and was in the process of tearing it apart and leaving a right mess on my driveway.  When it suddenly darted down my driveway and up the nearest tree - it happened in a flash, and might be the quickest I've ever seen a squirrel move.  I looked back to where it had been - and saw a face staring at me from the undergrowth.  It looked like a fox.  And just like that the face disappeared back into the undergrowth.  I went outside to see if I could see where it went, and to try to get a photo, but no noise and no sign.  I think that foxes are rare round here, so I have to assume that it was a coyote.  And sure enough, a quick google image search seems to confirm that was indeed what I saw.  I think this was my first decent sighting of a coyote - I've heard them plenty of times before, and I think I've seen them from a distance before, but certainly not like this time where we actually locked eyes.  It seemed to be alone, but who knows for sure whether the rest of it's pack was nearby.  I kind of had this impression that they were hyena like and quite scrawny, but this one looked quite big and in good shape.  I've been seeing a lot of deer recently, so I wonder whether it had feasted on one recently.      

Walmart Clientele

A quick trip to pick up a few things from a local Walmart this morning, and it was really quite an uncomfortable and unpleasant experience.  Even more so than normal.  As you might imagine, the kind of people who frequent Walmart are the not the type of people who take kindly to a statewide mask mandate.  So you see more than your fair share of barely adequate masks or people not wearing their masks correctly.  Having your mask hanging round your chin does not count.  And people coughing under their flimsy makeshift masks is very disconcerting.  What was noticeable this time was the number of Walmart employees who were not wearing their mask over their nose, or in some cases even their mouth.  I'm not sure if Walmart requires all its employees to be vaccinated - I very much doubt it - so this surely can't be a good thing.  And then when I return to my car after having braved this viral breeding ground, I'm greeted by the unpleasant smell of urine.  And sure enough, I see the stream of piss emanating from someone else's car has run under my car.  Disgusting.  Especially when there is a restroom in the Walmart.  But judging by the age of the people going to Walmart at the time of day I was there (early to mid morning), I imagine most of them have very limited bladder control.  Or they are already wasted.        

Song of the Week #76

A bit of a cheesy song this week, but totally randomly and unexpectedly I happened to sing it in the shower this morning.  I have no idea why, it's not exactly one that I would normally listen to.  I must have subliminally picked it up from the telly or a movie or something recently.  But it is undeniably catchy.

Equinox

We are down to about 7 pm for sunset now.  The days are already starting to feel so much shorter.  Even though we're just still on the right side of the equinox.  It's the first day of fall tomorrow - I don't know why they don't use the word autumn here, it is so much better.  Either way, no more wearing shorts for the rest of the year.    

Office Return Update

Despite the Delta variant running rampart in the US, we are a bit closer to returning to the office.  On 1st October, we officially move to an "Allow Work from Home" phase.  Which means we are allowed to return to the office when and how often we choose.  This corresponds to the date when all US employees have to be vaccinated (I don't know whether I'll ever find this out, but it would be interesting to know who has quit or been fired because they refuse to get vaccinated - there has to be at least one, even in the Seattle office).  Other than for an on-site flu shot, I shall not be returning to the office just yet - there are still physical distancing requirements and mask requirements that need to be followed.  I am not prepared to come into the office if I have to wear a mask all day.  Which could be a problem by 1st November.  Which is when we are scheduled to move to a "Full Return to Site" phase - at which time, everyone will be expected to work in the office.  I would be surprised if we remain committed to that date if everyone still has to wear a mask indoors (as mandated by state law) - I'm surely not the only one who doesn't want to work under those conditions.  I imagine there might also be some more flexible working from home arrangements offered - whereby we only need to come into the office a certain number of days a week.  I haven't been into the office for ages now, but apparently there are kiosks set up in the main lobby where we must pass a health screening and be issued a wristband to continue to our desk.  Dare I say, it all seems rather excessive.  

Vaccine Requirement

In some welcome news, King County - the biggest county in Washington, not the one I live in but the one I work in since it includes the city of Seattle - has issued an order that all people have to require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test in order to enter most indoor venues.  This is the kind of order I can wholeheartedly get behind - even if I'm not sure how rigorously it will be enforced.  If it makes vaccinated people like me feel safer in going out, then I'm all for it.  The order doesn't go into effect until 25 October, so I might have to wait until then until I go the cinema to watch the new Bond film (which is due to be released here on 8 October).  And then I have to make sure I go to a cinema in King County, not Snohomish County where I live (which I don't think has a similar requirement yet).       

River Meadows Park

It's not quite the end of summer yet, but it feels like it is.  We've been hit by heavy rain and big winds.  It's nowhere near as bad as they said it would be, at least where I am, but enough to stop me going out.  Knowing that this bad weather was coming in on Friday, I took the opportunity on Thursday to take a long lunch and go for a hike a little further away.  Not that far - I went to River Meadows Park again, about a 45 minute drive away.  Somewhere I've been to once before, but it was a lot quieter this time thanks to it being a school day.  It's a trail that follows a nice section of a river - and a nice place to go on a sunny day.  And although the water level was low, lots of wildlife to be seen - some big fish in the river, some bald eagles (who probably had their eye on those fish), and for the 2nd hike in a row I saw a snake (don't worry - nothing big, and it quickly slithered off into the undergrowth).  The walk itself was flat and not very long - maybe about 3 miles total - but, just like the last time I was here, I managed to disorient myself and ended up doing a lot of backtracking.  The trails are not signposted at all, and my sense of direction is appalling - I maybe should have made better use of the compass app on my phone!      

Light Rail

I received a flyer this week advertising the Light Rail service that is being built around Greater Seattle.  And that everyone is paying for with an exorbitant increase in tax when we renew our car license tabs, along with extensive disruption to traffic due to all the construction.  The flyer states "Take the Bus to Light Rail.  Service to Northgate Begins 10/2.".  Northgate is as far north as the Light Rail currently goes, at least until 2024 when it will get extended further north, and closer to where I live.  But all of this is meaningless, because I don't live anywhere near one of the transit centers.  I don't even live particularly near any bus routes - I think there is a bus stop that is maybe a 15 minute walk away (a walk I wouldn't want to make in the dark, since a large chunk of it does not have a sidewalk), and as I look at the schedule online it runs all of twice a day.  No wonder I hardly ever see a bus in my neighborhood, and that I've never used this service.  And the bus doesn't even run to Northgate - you'd have to get a second bus there.  So the flyer states "Frequent buses and trains make for fast, easy connections", "Spend less time driving for a more relaxing trip", "Skip the worst traffic and get there faster" - none of which is true.  An alternative would be to park and ride at one of the transit centers - but my experience is that they don't have nearly enough parking spaces, and especially during the week they tend to fill up really early.  So I honestly don't see myself ever using the Light Rail.  What a tragic and enormous waste of money this will prove to be.     

Ribs

Over the course of the pandemic, I've acquired a hankering for ribs.  So I order them fairly regularly (not like every week - maybe quarterly?) from a chain called Applebee's that have a restaurant near me.  It had been a while, so I ordered some today - especially because their offer of a free dessert to celebrate my birthday was about to run out.  But, I'm sad to say, this was the first time I've been truly disappointed with the order.  The ribs no longer seem to come with the sauce I like - instead of Spicy Texas BBQ I had to settle for Honey BBQ, and it just wasn't the same.  And the other big thing - I picked the food up, came home and unpacked the order - and it didn't come with any sides.  They had changed the online menu so the ribs didn't come with broccoli and mash sides that I normally get.  But from the photos, it looked like it should have at least come with fries and coleslaw.  But nope, neither was there.  I don't know whether you have to order sides separately now, or if it was simply an error in the order.  Either way, very disappointing.  A quick online search reveals that they slimmed down their menu earlier this year due to plummeting sales - which probably comes with a corresponding decrease in quality.  It might be time to change my choice of casual chain diner - there's a Cheesecake Factory not too far away....         

Song of the Week #75

 This week... a nice slice of pop from the late 70's.

Barbers

I got a long overdue haircut today.  And I went to a neighborhood barbers that I'd never been to before.  And I feel like I'm still looking for my regular haircut place.  It's not that this barbers was that bad, but it just wasn't particularly welcoming.  I want to go somewhere that's friendly, with a barber that gets to know me and knows what haircut I like and will best suit my rapidly deteriorating hairline.  Which is why going to get my haircut is starting to become an increasingly nerve-wracking exercise.  I don't know what to ask for - but judging from my last few haircuts, it seems that the comb over is best for me.  Though, fortunately, I have enough hair at the moment that it's not quite that Bobby Charlton/Hamlets Cigar guy look yet.     

Public Health

As I'm scrolling through the headlines on the internet, I can't help but get really depressed about the ongoing pandemic: "Washington State Patrol troopers, corrections workers and others sue Inslee over COVID vaccine mandate"; "QAnon guru dies from COVID-19 as her followers harass hospital staff";  "Face-mask confrontation sees mom allegedly encouraging child to punch school bus monitor"; "Mu variant, which may be vaccine resistant, in all 50 states after Nebraska case"; "What happens if you use a fake vaccine card?"; "Most people don't need a COVID-19 booster vaccine, new review says"; "Conservative radio host who fought COVID restrictions in court dies of COVID"; "Florida governor threatens to fine state counties and cities over vaccine mandates".  And this is just a very small snapshot of the headlines I just found - if I refresh the pages, I get a whole bunch of new but similarly frightening headlines.  It's nasty.  It's vitriolic.  And it feels like it's never going to end.  Much like so many other hot button issues in the US, it has become highly politicized and polarizing.  And I feel like there is no middle ground - you have to take sides.  Which is just ridiculous when we are talking about a pandemic and a public health issue that affects everyone, regardless of race, sex, age, creed, economic status, political persuasion or anything else.  It's a poor reflection of us as a species - perhaps we deserve to get wiped out by a virus.    

Coins

Here is a quick look at the overpriced coin set that I am currently procuring:

 

And yes, that is an extremely small gold coin I purchased in addition to all the silver coins.  I should have paid more attention to the dimensions...

9/11 Anniversary

With it being the 20th anniversary of 9/11, naturally there are gazillions of documentaries, retrospectives, TV series, movies, etc about the attacks that have been airing today and over the last few weeks.  It's difficult to know which ones are worth watching and which are not.  A lot of the same iconic footage tends to get recycled.  But I have decided to watch or DVR a couple of them.  The event is not as triggering to me as it is to most Americans, but I don't think I'm very informed about exactly what happened.  I remember where I was when I first heard about the attacks (in the office in Sheffield), and I have been to New York and Ground Zero since then.  But the inner historian in me wants to know more about one of the most important historical moments of our lifetime.  This week I watched the 2002 film 9/11, featuring a documentary crew who were following New York firefighters when the attack happened.  It includes fascinating (and devastating) footage from the ground, and from inside one of the towers, that I had never seen before as they follow some of the first responders.  I've also been recording a couple of series - the Nat Geo 6-part series called 9/11: One Day in America, that seems like quite a comprehensive look at what happened on this day 20 years ago; and the 4-part Spike Lee series called NYC Epicenters 9/11 -> 2021 1/2, which seems like more of a New York-centric look at 9/11 and beyond.  I'm honestly quite surprised that the US hasn't made 9/11 a national holiday.           

Frustration

I know that at least one person who reads this blog plays, or played, Ring Fit Adventure on the Nintendo Switch.  As summer comes to an end, the days get shorter and the weather takes a turn for the worse, I think I shall be playing it a bit more regularly once again as a form of exercise when I'm stuck inside.  However, I'm hitting a roadblock in the game and it's driving me crazy.  It's the missions that require you to complete a level without battling monsters.  Which basically requires you to double jump over them when you encounter them on the level.  But I'm finding that it's practically impossible to time the jumps accurately every time.  So I've spent way too many attempts trying to complete one of these fricking missions.  I mean I could just move on to the next world and forget about it, but I'm determined to complete the mission before then.  But the more attempts that end in failure, the more frustrated I get, and the less inclined I am to play the game again.  Curse my stubbornness.      

Season Opener

It was the (american) football season opener today, and I can honestly say I don't care one bit.  It's kind of interesting how my sporting tastes have evolved.  For a long time american football was my favorite US sport, but it most definitely is not now (behind both basketball and ice hockey).  Maybe because I don't like the way the game has evolved, maybe it's the overbearing coverage, maybe it's political because of the monstrous NFL owners, maybe its the repellent local Seahawks fans, maybe its because my team (San Diego Chargers) no longer exists.  Either way, I didn't watch any of the season opener and now I've got to endure loads of post-game analysis of this instead of the much more interesting tennis coverage.  So my major indifference over baseball is now going to get extended to american football.  At least it's only a month until the ice hockey season starts, featuring the debut of the Seattle Kraken!       

Song of the Week #74

There was a community event going on in one of our neighborhood parks this evening, including some live music.  So I popped over there in the hope of finding some inspiration for this week's selection.  In a way, I was successful.  Let me start by saying that the live music was insipid - cheesy country music.  Not my bag.  And surprisingly not that loud - you'd expect the music to be booming round the neighborhood, but you could hardly hear it until you actually got into the park.  And this is a small neighborhood park.  This was really just an excuse to go for an early evening walk (the "local" park is still a 15 minute walk away, and I did a couple of laps round the park just to get my step count up).  I didn't take my wallet, but regardless I wouldn't have gone to one of the food trucks there because the queues were massive.  There were a lot more people than I was expecting - perhaps due to the lovely weather (we weren't supposed to have any more heatwaves this summer, but I've been wearing shorts again for the last few days).  I did stop to listen to a few songs, but I was done when they started to play a countrified version of a Led Zeppelin song.  So let me include the original here, to cleanse the palate from the monstrosity I just heard (think a lot more banjo instead of guitar).

A Sign of the Times

 ... more like a sign for our times:

I noticed it on a brief lunchtime walk at a local park I hadn't been to for a while.  And I've never encountered a similar sign anywhere else - makes you wonder what happened to cause the sign, and how do you enforce it?

Lack of photos

Hmmm, I've not been posting many photos on this blog recently.  I want to rectify this, but honestly I don't have many opportunities to rectify this.  I'm not exactly getting out and about to many new and exciting places.  Almost all my walks/hikes are to places I've been to before, are not very far away, and are not exactly photogenic.  I don't think I can change that during the week when I'm working - especially now that I've actually started to get quite busy at work.  So I think I need to change my weekend habits - and make an effort on at least one weekend day to go to somewhere I've never been to before.  That's a tough ask - but I might try now that we're past Labor Day and the more popular sights tend to be slightly less crowded.  I've just renewed my State Park annual pass and National Parks annual pass (both of which I can actually expense through work via our wellbeing benefit!), so let's actually make better use of them.   

Tennis

I've been watching quite a bit of the US Open tennis this week - an event that I wouldn't mind going to watch one year (though knowing my luck, the day I would go would be a bit like that day in New York this week where they had that torrential rain and wind and flooding).  But as I'm watching some tennis this evening, I'm trying to remember the last time I actually played a game of tennis.  I think it's been a long while.  I don't recall ever having played a game since I moved to Seattle.  Which is quite surprising, since there are some courts not too far from where I work and I know it's been discussed with some of my work friends before.  I definitely played when I was in San Diego - in fact I remember many an enjoyable afternoon at work playing tennis with my boss.  Good times.  But I must have played since then because I've got a tennis racket and balls upstairs.  They wouldn't have come from San Diego or the UK, so is it possible I played in the year I was in Orange County, California before moving up to Seattle?  I guess so, but I have absolutely zero recollection of this - and this would have been nearly 15 years ago.  Yikes.  However, the possibility of playing sometime soon has come up.  I have a friend who is interested, though he currently has a foot injury so I don't think it's going to happen this year.  And there are some courts near where I live that we could play at.  So I hope it does happen - though I fear how bad I'll be, from both a lack of practice as well as a lack of fitness.      

Coda

Last night I watched Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.  Which is really just a re-cut version of Godfather Part III with a new overly long name, and which was released just last year.  Now I have seen the original Godfather III, but it was a long time ago and it must have been so bad that I have kind of erased it from my memory.  So does this version fix the mess?  In a word, no.  It's so difficult to judge this film when it is preceded by 2 masterpieces in the The Godfather and the Godfather Part II.  But I haven't seen either of these for a while (and watching this has made me really want to re-watch them just to see how good this genre can be done), so I think I can somewhat judge this film on it's own merits.  And it just doesn't cut it for me.  It's not particularly engrossing, not particularly memorable, and regrettably Sofia Coppola's awful performance has not been erased from the film.  I had forgotten that this was the Godfather film with the quote "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!" - so at least it has one positive going for it.  But overall, just a surprisingly average movie.   And this re-cut version does nothing to dispel that overwhelming feeling of disappointment and that it could have and should have been so much better.   2.5 stars.                

Bank Holiday Weekend

It's Labor Day on Monday, one of those rare bank holidays here.  And the norm at work on the Friday before a bank holiday weekend is for upper management to send out an e-mail saying we can leave early - or in the current working from home climate, to log off early.  Did we get such an e-mail today?  Did we heck.  And so I ended up "working" this afternoon - and by "working", what I really mean is keeping my computer open so that it looked like I was online and working.  I had no intention of doing any actual work, as is tradition.  But what to make of this lack of e-mail?  Has there been a shift in thinking by upper management?  I am reading too much into this?  Are we expected to work a full day now on the Friday before a bank holiday weekend?  If so, this is a most unwelcome development.    

Backward Steps

In a telling sign of how the fight against the pandemic is going locally, masks are going to be required for outdoor events with 500 or more attendees.  Regardless of vaccination status.  Yep, we are in the midst of a full on resurgence in the number of COVID-19 cases.  And I think this new mandate came about because a recent music festival here turned into a super-spreader event with loads of new cases.  I read somewhere that our state is averaging about 3,300 new cases a day and hospitalizations are up 40% over the last few weeks.  And that 95% of the people hospitalized are not vaccinated.  Hardly a surprise, given that about 40% of our state are still not vaccinated - and probably never will be.  Which is why we're never going to reach herd immunity.    

Song of the Week #73

There's blue-eyed soul, and then there's this.