Last Sunny Weekend of the Year

It was an unusually clear and sunny weekend here.  And with that came some plunging temperatures - almost freezing around sunrise.  I had to bump the temperature up on my thermostat!  But at least I was able to get out and make the most of the nice weather, which was important as it might be the last we have for a while.  I have a load of photos to sort out, particularly from Saturday when I went somewhere I've never been to before - I'll post an entry with some photos later in the week, hopefully tomorrow.  And also my leaf blower got a lot of use this weekend, where I cleared all the tree debris from my patio, my deck and my driveway.  There is so much of it - and frustratingly loads of it ends up inside, so I'm constantly vacuuming it up.  I don't know if we've got any big windstorms in the forecast, but I'm sure loads more debris will come down.  We do have a lot of rain in the forecast - indeed, if I look at the 14 day forecast then every single day beginning tomorrow has rain, some of it heavy.  Classic Pacific NW - this is when I miss living in Southern California.    

Man City 0-2 Palace

Well, that was unexpected.  I know Palace have been playing well - though with an uncanny ability to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory.  But I definitely didn't see this coming.  Is this a sign of a welcome return to mid-table mediocrity - rather that than being embroiled in any sort of relegation battle?  I sure hope so, though I fear we didn't get enough points during this little run of playing well.  We could just as easily follow that with a little run of not playing well, and quickly slip down the table once again.  The relegation battle seems quite wide open this year, with one notable exception - we are one of many teams who could go down with Norwich. 

Best Global Universities

I was shocked to see that the University of Washington in Seattle was ranked the 7th best university in the world.  At least according to some recently released rankings.  It appeared above Cambridge (which was 8th), but below Oxford (which was 5th).  I wouldn't trust the objectivity of these rankings, since they seem to have come from some US media outlet - and so other than Oxford and Cambridge the top 10 is dominated by US universities (with Harvard as #1).  I never really think of the UW as a top tier university, but I guess it's up there.  I was kind of curious to see where my alma mater - University of Bath - ranked, and it came in at a lowly #412.  Which is the #35 best university in the UK.  Has the University of Bath gone really downhill since I went there?  I'm sure it was considered a top 10 UK university in my time.  And in fact some quick internet research does reveal that most current UK rankings have it around the #8-#10 range, which is more like I would expect.  Jeez, the criteria that they use to come up with these US rankings must be wildly different.  When I look at the subject matter rankings then it is ranked a bit higher in math(s) at #122.  Still, does that mean that there are 121 universities in the world that I could have got a better education at?  Crikey.  Mind you, I don't think it really mattered where I studied mathematics - it was a subject that I was good at but which I was never really passionate about.  And, if I'm going to be honest, studying it is one of the biggest regrets in my life.

Education

Generally, I am not following US politics anywhere near as much as I used to during Trump's tenure.  I'm fairly indifferent to Joe Biden - I think he has good intentions, but is somewhat hampered by red states and the very delicate balance of power in Congress and the Senate.  But at least he isn't Trump.  This year may not be as important an election year as next year - when we have mid-terms that could result in a serious swing in power - but there are still some important races going on.  Not locally - I didn't even bother looking through the election pamphlet that came in the mail this year.  But there are others elsewhere - for example, Governor of Virginia.  And apparently what shouldn't be a close race (Biden won the state by 10 points) is indeed close, and one of the hot topics seems to be the teaching of critical race theory in schools.  I've got to be honest and say I have absolutely no clue what critical race theory is (I guess not having any children means that I don't really care about stuff like this).  But apparently it's a big deal and Republicans and the far right media have seized on it as racist (towards whites).  Just like mask mandates and vaccine mandates, and judging by some of the video I've seen of parents' protesting, it generates some serious hatred and pushback from a particular demographic (think white, uneducated, Fox News consumers).  Apparently Americans don't like being told they're racist, even though they clearly are.    

Song of the Week #81

Ah, one of my favorite genres of music - trip hop.  Here's a little something from one of the bigger artists within that genre, though surprisingly not one that I really got into.  This will definitely not be to everyone's tastes.   

Booster Shot

With the CDC having expanded eligibility for COVID-19 booster shots recently, I will aim to get one in a few week's time.  It's almost 6 months since I got my 2nd shot, after which due to my "underlying medical conditions" (i.e. being obese and having high blood pressure - aren't I lucky....) I am eligible.  I had a quick look online, and it seems there is another drive-thru place not too far away (not the same one I went to before, which I guess is no longer a vaccination site since it was in the car park of a college) where if I can get an appointment then I can get a booster shot.  Given the COVID situation in the UK, it is a sad state of affairs if I can get my booster shot before my parents.  But if I'm going to come back to the UK for Christmas, then I will feel much better about having had a booster shot.

Messy Remnants

Although we've still got a wet and windy week ahead, the worst of the winds are over.  I think I was very lucky to avoid any prolonged power outages - I lost power again overnight, but that was it.  And as I look at the outage map, there are still loads of scattered outages everywhere.  My driveway is an absolute mess with loads of tree debris - this is why I bought a leaf blower.  But no point putting it to use until we have a stretch of drier and quieter weather - which looks like it's going to be next weekend.  Apparently some bigger tree limbs came down in the surrounding roads and yards - I heard a lot of chainsaws this morning.  It's a wonder that none of them snagged a power line on the way down.  It's difficult to quantify the amount of tree debris there is - maybe these photos of my patio and deck will help.  These were clear a few days ago.

Flickering Lights

I guess I'd better do a blog post now, because my lights have been flickering all day so far and I reckon I'm going to lose power any time soon.  A quick look at the outage map reveals a lot of outages nearby, but not in my immediate neighborhood.  It's only a matter of time - it's extremely gusty outside.  One second it's dead quiet, and the next second you can hear the trees howling.  And we have an official wind advisory.  And literally as I'm writing this, the power just went out and came back on again.  It'll take a while for the internet to get rebooted, so I don't want to lose what I've already written!  And now it's got REALLY windy outside.  It looks like it's raining, but it's actually all the bits of tree coming down outside from the wind.  The weather app says we can expect winds of between 20 and 35 mph, with gusts up to 55 mph.  That's actually a lot less than I was expecting, I think the winds are considerably stronger on the coast.  I just rechecked the outage map, and there are considerably more outages now than there were about 15 minutes ago.  It feels like this could be a long day and a long night.     

Too Much To Watch

I kind of had it in the back of my mind that this year I would gradually work through my DVR, watching the various series and films that I had recorded there until there was nothing left.  After which I could belatedly cut the cord.  But it hasn't worked out that way.  In fact, I think my DVR is currently fuller than it has ever been.  How on earth did that happen?  For sure, there is a lot of stuff that I didn't need to record nor keep on the DVR because it is available on demand.  There are a lot of series that can't be that good because I didn't feel motivated to watch them at the time, but I still recorded them.  There are a lot of documentaries I have on my DVR that cover a range of depressing topics, so I don't feel particularly enthusiastic about watching them.  Will I ever get round to watching everything?  I'll probably probably sacrifice a few things, but I imagine I'll watch most of it - I'm very slowly working my way through it.  Unfortunately, I'm also adding to it all the time.  Which I guess is why I'm starting to have messages pop up from my TV box asking me whether I'd like to upgrade my DVR plan.  Quite the opposite, I wish I had less DVR space so it would force me to watch things in a more timely manner and really sort out the wheat from the chaff.           

Crazy Weather

After the extreme heat this year, we have another significant meteorological event hitting us this weekend.  There is a huge storm off the Pacific coast right now - and when I say huge, it is literally being called the strongest Northwest storm in history.  And apparently it's going to hit on Sunday night.  But as often seems to be the case round here, even the experts are not entirely sure where the storm will make landfall and what kind of impact it will have and where.  We can definitely expect rain - in fact, the forecast here has rain all the way through to next weekend, some of it very heavy.  But apparently the worst rain will be further south - the Bay Area is going to be hit hard.  But it's the winds that I'm more worried about.  They could be very strong, and they could wreck havoc.  Even with a little bit of wind a few days ago, the amount of tree debris coming down was substantial.  So if we get stronger winds, I fear some much biggest tree limbs, or indeed whole trees, coming down and causing a whole lot more disruption.  This is where living where I am surrounded by so many trees, not all of which seem in optimal health, is a bit disturbing.         

Caught in the Act

I once again noticed this morning that my hummingbird feeder was empty.  But this time, I had my trail camera set up overnight.  So let's check the footage:

Yep, that is a raccoon just helping himself to the hummingbird nectar.  And check the timestamp - this is not very late in the evening.  The cheek of it.  This is not a welcome development, because apparently hummingbirds will stop using the feeder if a raccoon has been at it.  So what can I do about it?  Well first thing is that I've taken the feeder off the chain - so it's a bit higher up.  But I still think it's too low, so I might need to buy a higher stand.  I could also consider moving the feeder, but I'm somewhat reluctant to do that because I like to be able to see the feeder when I'm sitting inside watching telly.  

At least I know my camera works.  It captures the big stuff - like I've also got footage of a squirrel at the bird bath - but it doesn't capture the hummingbirds in action, which is a bit disappointing.  I wonder whether I might be able to if I move the camera a bit closer.  I doubt it, they are just small and their movement is too quick - you probably need a really expensive camera to capture that, rather than the cheap one I have.

Doubts

I've booked my flights back to the UK for Christmas.  But now I see all these headlines about an increase in Covid cases, likely fresh restrictions, "Plan B measures" (whatever they are) and potentially another lockdown.  Now I'm having second thoughts about coming back to the UK this winter.  Certainly based on the trends, it's not looking good.  I don't want to come back if my options on things to do are restricted, and particularly if my ability to return to the US is jeopardized.  Maybe I should just wait until next summer to come back - I think I can claim a travel voucher if I cancel my flights.  But I won't do anything just yet - I'll just pay a bit more attention to the UK Covid situation than I have been.  I don't know what the red line for canceling my trip is - but if things get worse then we might be close.    

Song of the Week #80

Unbelievably, this tune is actually from the 80's - though it feels distinctly 90's.  Either way, it's a good 'un and one of my very first introductions to alternative music.

Old Sauk River Trail

Well it's been far too long, but I actually did a hike this weekend that I'd never done before.  And not one that appeared in any of my local guidebooks, but one that came up when I did an internet search on best fall hikes in Washington.  And I'm pleased to say, this one delivered.  I hiked the Old Sauk River Trail, located about a 1.5 hour drive away north and inland of where I am now.  And this trail checked a lot of boxes for me - flat, decent length (I probably hiked about 7 miles), a decent trail through a moss-covered forest alongside a raging river, not too busy (especially for a Saturday - you've probably got the trail to yourself on a weekday), some nice views to be had, loads of mushrooms/toadstools if that's your thing, and some of the best and most colorful fall foliage I've experienced round here - that I don't think my photos do justice to.  I will definitely come back to this trail on a sunny autumnal day.  

Seahawks

Seattle Seahawks were playing in the Sunday Night game tonight.  I wasn't watching, and I haven't heard any fireworks, so I assume they lost.  Even if it's raining quite heavily, like it is now, some idiot will still set off a load of fireworks whenever they win.  In fact, while I think about it, I haven't heard them very much at all this year, mainly because Seattle have not started the season very well (I think they're 2-4 now, and also have their star quarterback out injured).  It also explains why I haven't seen many people out and about in their Seahawk's gear recently - what a bunch of glory fans we have round here.     

Tenet

I haven't done a film review for a while, so let me do one now since I watched Tenet for the first time last night.  And I say first time, because I think I need to rewatch this film - because I hadn't got a clue what was going on half the time.  I think it was a good film, if a touch pretentious, but the whole going forward and backwards - literally backwards - in time was so confusing.  It made for some very surreal action set pieces - I can understand why it won an Oscar for visual effects.  It's no surprise that after finishing watching it, I immediately wanted to rewatch it (which I haven't done yet) - and maybe the first time I've felt that since watching another Christopher Nolan film - Memento.  And the second thing I did after watching it was to go online to try to find an explanation for what I just watched.  There's plenty of discussion to be found, and many images of which direction in time each character was going in at various points in the film, SPOILER ALERT, like this:

Another image that came up in the search was a lot closer to how I felt:

But even if it was totally confusing, I enjoyed it so I'm going to give it 3.5 stars.       

Trail Camera

Well, my hummingbird feeder was attacked again this week.  Not only did I find a feeder that was full the day before to be empty the next morning, but also the stand that holds the feeder was pushed out of place.  This is an escalation of vandalism, so action needs to be taken.  So I have acquired a trail camera and have set it up to record any nocturnal activity by the feeder.  Let's see if I can catch the perpetrator on film.  Mind you, I have my doubts about how good the camera is.  It didn't seem to do a very good job of capturing hummingbirds feeding when I tested it this afternoon.  I didn't get the cheapest one on Amazon, but I did get the best seller.  Which is not necessarily a good thing, because this is clearly a Chinese knock off and a closer look at the Amazon reviews finds as many recent bad reviews as good reviews.  I really should do some proper research on these kind of purchases before I waste my money.  I'll probably end up spending more on another better camera.   

The New Normal

I went into the office today for what may have been the first time in about a year.  Ostensibly to get a flu shot, but really to see what a return to the office would be like.  Let's start with the commute - which was bad, but nowhere near as bad as I've experienced before on a Thursday before the pandemic.  But I did leave at the optimally worst time - about 8.20 am - so it was never going to be traffic-free.  Once I arrived at the office, that's when you really start to notice the changes.  It started with the parking garage door not opening up automatically when you arrive - which it used to do - and the badge scanner is not within arm's reach so you have to leave your car to open the garage door, which is kind of a hassle.  Apparently at some point during the pandemic, some cars were broken into even though they were parked in our underground garage.  Lovely.  Once you've parked, the first place you have to go to is to a kiosk in the lobby.  Here you answer some basic health questions and I think it scans your temperature, and if you pass then you get issued a wristband which allows you into the actual office and which you have to wear all day.  Which is also a hassle.  You also have to wear a mask the entire time you're inside the building.  Which is uncomfortable and inconvenient to say the least.  If you have an office then you can take your mask off inside your office, but us underlings who are just in cubes don't have that luxury.  First thing I did when I got to my cube was to do some tidying up - things like throwing away my now out of date wall calendar, also throwing out or replacing some things on my desk that had inexplicably become sticky (maybe from when we had those hot temperatures - but even so, it shouldn't have been that hot inside our air-controlled office.  But it looked like someone had pulled up the blinds on my window, so my cube probably got an awful lot of direct sunlight).  That's when you notice another major inconvenience - the lack of trash bins under our desks.  They've all been taken away from everyone, for what they say are environmental reasons but what I really suspect is a cost-saving exercise.  Ridiculous.  I might just bring my own bin in.  Caught up with a few people who had also come into the office, did a bit of work, and also got my flu shot.  Despite the few people that were in the office, it was still eerily quiet.  Decided to go for a brief lunchtime walk - my first opportunity to go round the south side of Lake Union in over 2 years.  They had shut down a road and started replacing a bridge before the pandemic started, but managed to complete the work during the pandemic so I could recommence a lakeside route I often took before.  The neighborhood hasn't really changed much, still a lot of construction of new buildings going on.  Though I worry about what lunch options are still readily available.  I dread to think how expensive it is to live round there now.  But after returning back to the office, that is when the wearing of a mask become a real problem.  I'd worked up a bit of a sweat, I was breathing a bit more heavily, and then I had return into the office and put on a mask which just exacerbated my condition.  Unfeasible.  We are supposed to be returning to the office on 1st November, so in this frame of mind I sent an e-mail to my manager saying that I just don't want to return to the office while there is still an indoor mask mandate.  Let's see how that goes down...          

Song of the Week #79

You've definitely heard this one before - from a band I don't know very much about, but they seem quite prevalent in pop culture.  I guess an art pop band will be particularly popular with the arty types.

    

Junk E-Mail

I normally peruse my junk e-mail box at least once a day, just to ensure that nothing important has somehow crept into there.  It happens.  And that has been manageable, because generally I only get a few junk e-mails from some mailing lists that I joined a long time ago.  But that has suddenly changed over the last week, when I've been getting hundreds upon hundreds of spam/phishing e-mails each night.  Clearly my e-mail address has recently been acquired by some spammers.  All the e-mails seem to come from some randomly generated e-mail address that ends astrazenega.co.uk.  They probably use this address because it's close enough to astrazeneca to not automatically block it, and the rest of the address is randomly generated so it means you can't just block the contact because it changes each time.  Quite ingenious really.  So let's just hope that I don't miss anything important that accidentally ends up in my junk folder - and also be thankful that at least this is only happening in my junk folder and not my main inbox.  I've also tried to change my e-mail settings to block anything that comes from astrazenega.co.uk, but I have my suspicions about how successful that will be.        

Happy 2000th

I missed celebrating my 1000th blog entry, so let me celebrate my 2000th entry - which was actually yesterday.  This is my 2001st entry.  Whoops!  Nonetheless, I'm surprised I've managed to keep this going for as long as I have - certainly a lot longer than my previous attempts at a blog.  Those quickly degenerated into angry/depressing ramblings, but for the most part I've managed to avoid that in this one - though it is tough to maintain some semblance of positivity all the time.  Especially in light of all that has happened since I started this one in April 2016 - including the worst president in the history of the US, and a rather significant world pandemic.  And it doesn't help that I'm not a particularly positive person!  But I have managed to keep my depressive tendencies in check, or at least tried to.  And I think that more accurately reflects my outlook on life since I turned 40, where I have been more accepting of who I am and where I am.  Certainly more so than I did in my late 30's, with my brief stint in Texas being a particular low point.  Yes, I live a fairly sedentary and uninteresting life - and often a lonely life - which can make coming up with blog entries somewhat demanding.  But writing some of these entries can also be very cathartic.  And for the handful of people who actually look at this, thank you for continuing to read these brief snippets of my life, my thoughts, my opinions, etc - despite how trivial and insignificant they are to everyone but me.              

Nintendo Switch Fail

A frustrating morning with my Nintendo Switch today.  It started with a total inability to join an online game with my nephew.  It's worked before, so don't know if or what we were doing wrong, if anything, this time.  Perhaps the online network was down.  But I don't think so because my nephew was showing up as online, but when he created an online room for me to join - the room didn't appear to me, although I got the many many invites.  All I got was the infernal message "No friends found" when I tried to join.  And I think unrelated to this, I then realized that I'd attached my grip the wrong way round on my controller.  And it was stuck.  No matter what I tried to do, I couldn't separate it.  So I had to go out and buy a replacement for that.  This is not the first time I've had to replace a controller - it's the main reason why I bought a joypad to play Mario Kart with.  I look forward to the day when my nephew and niece graduate to a more advanced console (like the PS5) that shouldn't have these online play problems.     

Animal Vandalization

For the second time in a few weeks, I came downstairs, looked outside and saw that my bird feeder was empty.  But not emptied by normal means, no I could see that the sugar water had been spilled everywhere on the patio underneath the feeder.  It causes a slightly darker stain than regular rainwater, so it stands out.  But this morning, there wasn't just the sugar water stain - but also what looked like animal prints on the patio.  So now I know we have a crime.  It was too vague to make out what creature they might have come from - but bigger than a squirrel.  I say that, because I have a seen a squirrel both on my patio and climbing up into my bird bath recently - so that was my number one suspect.  But I think it might have been something else - a deer, a raccoon, a coyote, whatever.  Though lord knows what they would want with the sugar water.  Maybe they were after the hummingbirds.  

Late

I fell asleep on the sofa this evening, hence the late time for this blog post.  A combination of extremely inconsistent quality of sleep (most nights are absolutely terrible - waking up in the middle of the night, unable to get back to sleep, feeling tired all during the day) and getting old.  And add to that some stress due to work, which is keeping me quite busy at the moment, and then you have some real trouble.  I need to get into some better habits to fight this.  

Tempting

 Well, look at what I'll be able to order next month.

I haven't decided whether to get it, but it's definitely tempting.  It's one of the largest sets in terms of pieces and size, so it ain't cheap.

Song of the Week #78

This week's selection, something from the mid-90's.  Is this Britpop?  I think this is an American band with a Scottish singer, and a bit darker than your typical Britpop song, so probably not.  It's a tune that I didn't care much for at the time, but which has grown on me as the years have passed.  Which is in stark contrast to most of the songs from that era. 

Sausage Roll Substitute

They don't quite make up for the lack of sausage rolls, but I have discovered that my local supermarket stocks frozen "Franks in a Blanket".  And they are a godsend.  Apparently in the US, pigs in blankets can also be called franks in blankets or franks in blanks.  And I don't think they are the same as UK pigs in blankets - these are pork sausages wrapped in puff pastry (which is about as close to sausage rolls as you get here).  Aren't pigs in blankets normally wrapped in bacon?  Stupid Americans.  

Fall Color

As I was out for a hike today, it dawned on me how much I miss seeing some decent fall foliage colo(u)r.  Maybe that's something I need to do this month.  Washington state is not really known for it (certainly nothing like NE US), but there are some places you can go for some good views.  And supposedly it is peaking in the next few weeks.  If we get some decent weather, preferably on a weekend, then I need to take a road trip.  Instead, this is how it more typically looks like on the hikes I've been doing over the last few days.

Not long now...

 ... for the best TV show currently out there to return with a new series.

If you've not watched this show yet, you need to.

Changing Seasons

I don't recall how this compares to previous years, but the last few nights/mornings have been the first time I've considered turning on my heating again since before summer.  I've resisted the urge so far, but I think we're close - and close to getting huge electricity bills again!  But I have taken the first steps of storing away my portable fans and portable air conditioning unit, and replacing them with a couple of portable heaters that I have.  Having just experienced the hottest summer ever here, now I predict the coldest winter ever.  Don't you just love climate change.  Now that I have a Dyson fan, I'm also thinking that I might need one of those Dyson fan heaters - even at Dyson's exorbitant prices.  Maybe I can get a cheap refurbished one.  

Plastic Bags

Starting today, our state has banned single use plastic bags.  Which came as a bit of a shock when I went to the supermarket this morning.  I ended up having to buy some paper bags to carry my groceries.  And yes, charging for paper bags is outrageous - even at the grand sum of 8 cents a bag.  If I'm going to be honest, I can't say I approve of this bag ban - rather than simply banning all plastic bags, I'd rather they replaced them with recyclable plastic bags and keep the convenience.  It's not like the supermarkets can't afford it.  The convenience is apparent when you consider that the statewide ban got delayed numerous times due to the pandemic.  Oh well, at least I've already got some reusable bags which I acquired sometime ago.  The city of Seattle had banned plastic bags many years ago, so I've still got some left over from when I lived and shopped in the city.  Though lord knows what kind of condition they're in after all this time unused.