Couch Potato Update

A few shows I'm currently watching:

- Yellowjackets - a cross between Lord of the Flies and Lost, this is a very buzzworthy series

-  The Gilded Age - basically Downton Abbey transplanted to late 19th century USA

- Resident Alien - 2nd series of enjoyable modern equivalent to 3rd Rock from the Sun

- All Creatures Great and Small - it has been called an "incredible balm" and it's "cheerful optimistic tone" has been extolled by US TV critics

- Billions - we're into the 6th series of this ridiculously over-the-top drama

- The Righteous Gemstones - because this is an HBO show, this is an amusingly more adult 1/2 hour US comedy

And a few new shows I'm looking forward to:

- Reacher - thank god midget Tom Cruise is not appearing in this TV adaptation of the books

- The Battle for Uber - good cast, could be an intriguing look at the rise and fill of the former Uber CEO

- Better Things - last season of quality comedy series

 

Local News

It's become increasingly difficult to get extensive and unbiased local news coverage.  And we are talking about across different media.  Seattle Times is the big local paper - but I don't get it delivered and frustratingly their website, which is a good resource, has become subscription based.  The 4 main TV channels (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox) each broadcast local news from different providers.  One of them is owned by Sinclair - and I'm not prepared to watch anything run by that notoriously right-wing broadcaster.  I used to watch Q13 quite a lot - which despite being affiliated with Fox was actually independent of it.  Until recently, when it got officially acquired by Fox - so I'm no longer watching that either.  Both Sinclair and Fox have an inclination to reduce actual meaningful local coverage in place of national right-wing coverage - and in many instances are actually forced by their parent company to air certain opinion pieces.  And that leaves 2 other TV stations with local news - neither of which are particularly good and neither of which I have any particular inclination to watch.  So it appears that my local news intake is going the same way as my national news intake.  Significantly reduced.     

Adage

I think everyone knows the old adage "Red sky at night, shepherds' delight; red sky in the morning, shepherds' warning".  Well imagine my surprise when I came across an alternative to this in an American article that read "Red sky at night, sailors' delight; red sky in the morning, sailors' warning".  I've not heard this variation before - is this another Americanism?   And some quick online research doesn't really tell me which version is correct.  An article on the Met Office website talks about shepherd first appearing in the bible, and that sailor is a "global variation".  But Wikipedia states it originates from an ancient rhyme often repeated by mariners, and that shepherd is the variation.  Does it matter which is correct?  They both mean the same thing.  Though I'm sure the "British" version is probably the original.

Pyromania

After a few dry days, I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this - but my pyromaniac neighbor is at it again.  It seems like he has had a bonfire going for most of the last few days.  I'm surprised he still has any trees left on his property to provide firewood - he's certainly cut down most of them.  It's annoying at the best of times, but particularly repugnant right now.  And that is because we are currently under an air stagnation advisory.  And what does that advisory say?  I quote this from my weather app: "State air quality agencies highly recommend that no outdoor burning occur and that residential wood burning devices be limited as much as possible.".  So thank you neighbor for making the air quality in my neighborhood even worse than it already is.  Dick. 

Promotions

In what has become a depressingly annual tradition, today they released the list of people who got promoted in our department and I am once again dismayed at who was included.  And who wasn't.  It is often people who don't deserve it - they might be useless at their job, or this might be another promotion after having already been promoted recently.  But, sadly I hate to say this again, but it mostly seems to come down to race.  Take Biostatistics (which is not my group, although I am a qualified statistician) - ever single person who got promoted was Chinese.  I'm sure this says something about the demographics of the group, although I know for a fact that not everyone in it is Chinese.  As for my group - Statistical Programming - the breakdown of promotions is something like 65% Chinese, 30% Indian, 5% Other.  Which I think is probably a fairly accurate reflection of the demographics of my group.  But most of these people have unpronounceable names and I don't know them, and those I do know have done nothing to warrant a promotion.  It bothers me, even though I know it shouldn't, because I have somewhat intentionally put myself in a position to not get promoted - not taking on direct reports, not wanting more responsibilities, not having a high profile etc.  But it's difficult to hide my frustrations and bitterness.  Which is probably why it's for the best that I'm working from home!          

Song of the Week #94

What do you get when you cross an 80's band with a 50's sound?  You get a genre of music that I know I have definitely not included in this blog before.  Enjoy some rockabilly!

Wordle

I don't want to brag, but I do currently have a 100% success rate on Wordle.  Admittedly I haven't played many games (why is it not an official app yet?!), but I am clearly some kind of skilled wordsmith. 

Training

This week is going to be a long week.  Today was the first of 4 consecutive half-days of training.  And not even training that I need or was interested in attending, but my manager kind of forced me into going.  It's going to be a long old slog to get through all 12 hours of it.  It was perhaps a bad sign that I struggled even to log into the training on time at 9 am for the first session today.  Unfortunately with my manager also in attendance, I can't skip out of any sessions.  What a nightmare.   

Sore Throat

I'm currently suffering from a really bad sore throat.  Like really bad.  The kind that woke me up in the wee early hours this morning because I was over-producing saliva and having a difficult time swallowing it.  The kind that feels like you've got loads of phlegm at the back of your throat, but no matter how much hacking up you try you can't seem to clear it.  It is a sensation I'm familiar with, and it's horrible.  Unfortunately it's also one of the symptoms of COVID, so you do kind of worry.  But I don't have anything else wrong with me, so I'm not worrying too much.  So, for the moment, this is just a case of taking lots of lozenges and cold medicine.   

A Tennis Prediction

I'm currently sitting typing this with the Australian Open on in the background - I'm not quite going for the full Australian experience by drinking some Fosters, but I am munching on some Tim Tams.  But as I'm watching the tennis and with British hopes in the tournament having long been extinguished - I have a prediction.  A possibly controversial prediction.  But I predict that Emma Raducanu will never win another major.  Her US Open win as a qualifier was one of those freakish sporting occurrences that come along once in a lifetime - not unlike Leicester winning the Premier League.  And in much the same way that there is no way in hell that Leicester will win the league again, I don't think Raducanu will ever win a major again.  I'll gladly be proven wrong, but that's what I believe.  Especially in women's tennis, where you seem to get this constant turnaround of young predominantly Eastern European players who I've never heard of coming to the fore.  And speaking of tennis, isn't it wonderful what Djokovic went through and that he was finally deported.  I don't wish well on any prominent athlete who refuses to get vaccinated.  So it was also wonderful to see the Green Bay Packers lose their playoff game today - their QB Aaron Rodgers is also a prominent anti-vaxxer.      

COVID Testing Kits

It looks like we are finally going to be able to get some free at-home COVID testing kits.  And the distribution of these kits is about as disjointed and confusing as you'd expect from the US government.  It seems you can get some at both the national level and the state level.  I managed to order some from the official government site - though lord knows when I might actually receive them (probably well after the peak of Omicron).  And I think I only managed to get some because I ordered them the day before the website officially launched!  However no such luck on the dedicated Washington state website, whose "limited supply" had already been snapped up by the time I checked.  And what do I get from the government?  All of 4 tests.  This is shocking when you compare it to the free, regular, convenient testing available to you in the UK.  The US has really dropped the ball when it comes to testing.  I imagine I might be able to get more testing kits via my health insurance plan, but I don't imagine that process is straightforward.  Naturally, you can also get some if you're prepared to pay for them.  Apparently the US government is also going to distribute a load of better quality face masks this week or next week as well.  But again, none of the details about how to actually get them are particularly forthcoming and I don't imagine they will be easy to obtain.  Though I'm not sure if getting all of 3 masks is going to make much of a difference.         

Bad Habits

Just to say that after yet another day of it tipping down today, we are finally going to have a stretch of drier weather starting tomorrow - so I'd better make the most of this opportunity and get back into the habit of going out for regular walks/hikes.  I've not been doing this recently - one of many bad habits I've got into.  I don't feel good about myself right now, so i need to do better.  One consequence of my bad habits are the appalling sleeping habits I've developed - consistently waking up in the middle of the night, unable to get back to sleep, then feeling tired all during the day.  I'm definitely not getting my 8 hours of sleep a day - that can't be good.   

Song of the Week #93

I haven't started the new year off which much positivity, so I feel I need a "nice" tune this week.

I ❤ Seattle

This was a Christmas present (thank you!), and not the easiest one to complete.  And despite being local I don't recognize any of the individuals in the foreground, though I am certainly familiar with a lot of the businesses that they represent.

Ghosts

One of the few successful new sitcoms currently airing here is Ghosts.  Based on the BBC show of the same name.  Now this is an interesting one.  Unlike most other US remakes of UK shows, I have never seen the UK version of Ghosts.  So now I'm quite interested to see how it compares to the US version, which I have seen a lot of episodes of.  I imagine it's a bit like the first season of the US Office, which more or less following the same plotlines as the UK Office before really finding its feet and going its own way.  I wonder if the UK version is streaming somewhere here - and a quick search reveals it is on HBO Max, which I have, so I need to add that to the long list of many shows I need to check out.  My attempts to empty my DVR are still ongoing - over the Christmas period I managed to reduce it by half, but still an awful lot of stuff I need to get through.    

MLK Day

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, but I so wish that Martin Luther King Jr had been born in a summer month rather than mid-January.  His birthday is a bank holiday tomorrow, and it's a holiday that sneaks up on you because it's so soon after Christmas/New Year.  To the extent that it's easy to forgot about it - as I did until the end of last week.  So naturally I've got nothing planned to make the most of it.  What a waste.  But it's also a holiday that not all companies recognize as a day off - I don't think I did until the last few years.  In the future, it's quite tempting to take time off after Christmas rather than before Christmas to make the most of company holidays - that's definitely some food for thought.       

Tsunami

In all the years I've lived on the West Coast of America I don't recall ever getting a tsunami warning before.  And that's what we had today.  All because of an underwater volcanic eruption in Tonga.  What a strange small world we live in.  I mean I didn't get the warning because I don't live next to the coast, but Edmonds - which is a short drive away and where I get the ferry to the Olympic peninsula, closed all it's beaches and piers today.  When you drive to the Pacific coast, you see these road signs telling you where to evacuate in the event of a tsunami - so it's nice to know these signs might not be totally useless.  Though I think the only real consequence of the eruption was a slightly higher tide than normal - no flooding or massive destruction, at least here.  In many ways today would have been a good day to go to the coast and get to see some huge and dramatic waves.  I assume the ferries were still running, so now I kind of regret not going.      

German Supermarkets

It's extremely disappointing that despite both Lidl and especially Aldi expanding their presence in the US, neither of them have any stores in the Pacific Northwest.  Nor, as far as I'm aware, do they have any plans to open any stores here.  So I'm going to be stuck with the same crappy choices here for quite some time.  There's very few things that I enjoyed from my brief time in Texas, but H-E-B - the biggest grocery chain there, and a chain that is recognized as one of the best in the US - is one that I do miss.  Sadly, we'll never see any of the UK chains here.  Tesco tried with their US subsidiary - Fresh & Easy.  Though I quite enjoyed shopping there when they had some stores in California, it proved to be a massive flop and all their stores quickly closed without turning a profit.   

Omicron

For some reason, I keep on wanting to say Omnicron instead of Omicron.  Apparently I'm not the only one, because all the results from a Google search on Omnicron are to do with Omicron.  I'm shocked that online journalists don't spellcheck.  Just heard today that there was another positive case from someone who went into the office last week.  This is why I'm still working remotely full-time.  I think my best chance of catching something is when I go to Walmart - the number of people who shop or work there and who are incapable of wearing a mask over their nose, or even their mouth, or even at all, is shocking.  I give them a really wide berth, and they look really angry so you get the feeling that they would put up a fight if someone challenged them about not wearing a mask properly, or at all.  I've started to feel somehow tarnished coming out of Walmart - so I'm not sure how often I'll be going there in the next few months.  Not that I can get everything I want right now - as the shelves at Walmart, and other supermarkets, are particularly empty right now.  Blame supply chain issues, blame staffing shortages due to the number of employees calling in sick, blame the weather - but it's almost as bad as when people were panic buying.  This feels like the end of times.  Again.        

Song of the Week #92

Despite the millions of songs from which I can choose from, I feel like I'm already starting to repeat choices.  That isn't good.  I wasn't sure about last week, and I'm even less sure about this week.  So apologies if that is the case.  It might be time to switch up my selections to some genres I don't normally go for - disco, country, dance, etc.  Or not.  Either way, I'm overdue going down a YouTube music video rabbit hole and discovering (or re-discovering) some classics.    

Paint Party

We are not currently under a stay-at-home order, but we might as well have been considering how little I've been going out recently thanks to the weather.  So what better way to pass the time than either building a lego set or doing a jigsaw.  Like the old man I've become.  Here's the most recent one - with another set that I got as a Christmas present ready to go next.  What an exciting life I live nowadays.  What do you they say in Shawshank Redemption - you can get busy living, or get busy dying.  I fear I'm currently going for the latter.   

Overrated

Tonight, the most overrated sporting spectacle in American sports is currently being played.  It is the college football national championship.  An American football game being played between 2 teams of unpaid "students" (inverted commas because most of them don't look like students, and I very much doubt they study like students).  I think the nearest British equivalent is probably the Boat Race - though obviously because this is America it has none of the history and prestigiousness of the Boat Race.  And is about as much interest to me as the boat race - which has been many, many years now since I've seen.  If you're curious, which you're probably not, then the University of Georgia Bulldogs just beat the University of Alabama Crimson Tide.

Sunshine

Today felt like the first sunny day we've had for absolutely ages.  Indeed, I read somewhere it was actually the sunniest day we've had since Halloween.  Which says a lot about how utterly miserable it's been here over the last few months.  Sadly we've got rain back in the forecast for the week ahead.  Just what we need - with heavy snow and avalanches having closed all the mountain passes, and many areas in our state suffering from some serious flooding, we had effectively been cut off from the rest of the country.  At least the temperatures are staying well above freezing - the snow feels like a distant memory now. 

Cricket and Tennis

I was just thinking to myself that I'm glad I'm not a cricket fan, as we don't see to be doing very well in Australia.  As I write this, it looks like we're hanging on for a draw in the 4th Test.  When already 0-3 down in the series.  And that is perhaps the highlight of the tour for England.  Sad.  Though I still expect an inevitable batting collapse and defeat.  But if you need cheering up, then you just need to remind yourself about what Djokovic is going through.  They say Djokovic is a divisive figure - I think it's fair to say that I don't like the guy.  And that is even before he came out as openly against vaccination.  I hope he gets sent home from Australia - he won't be missed.  But I fear he'll finagle his way into competing, and probably winning, the Australian Open - as much as I hate him as a person, I concede that he is an exceptional tennis player.        

Delivery

I was supposed to have a delivery today.  The package should've been delivered by 8pm.  It's currently 9.30pm, I haven't got anything yet and when I track the package it still says it is out for delivery.  I have a feeling I won't get it tonight.  Of all the delivery companies we have here - this one, UPS, is by far the worst.  I've had problems with them before - from saying a package had been delivered when it hadn't, to delivering a package for me to one of my neighbors's homes instead of mine, to saying that the delivery address was incorrect when it wasn't.  It was probably them who performed the u-turn on my "front yard".  But unfortunately this is an Amazon order, so I have absolutely no say whatsoever over which delivery company they chose to use.  As far as I'm concerned, the sooner Amazon puts all these delivery companies out of business the better.

Song of the Week #91

I haven't heard this one for a while.

The Surge

As the US reached over a million new COVID daily cases this week, it seems almost inevitable that we’re all going to catch it at some point.  To be honest, I’d think I’d rather catch it now rather than later when the ability to fight the virus via the booster shot has waned.  Just before Christmas, we had our first case at work.  So an e-mail went out saying that someone tested positive who had been in the office on such and such dates and so you might have been exposed.  The dates were December 20, 21 and 22 – when I was on vacation, so I was absolutely not in the office then – so I don’t really know why I received the e-mail (it was only supposed to go out to those who were identified as being on site).  Also, apparently, our company has its own contact tracing process – so if I had been a direct contact, then I would’ve been notified separately about that (which at least I wasn’t).  Nonetheless, it was an interesting e-mail to receive – lots of legal talk, like no toleration of any of form of retaliation or discrimination against this employee who tested positive (we don’t know who it is, but the fact that they came into the office on 3 consecutive days does limit the possibilities), and that if you test positive and you think you contracted it at work then you may be entitled to worker’s compensation and additional benefits.  What is still bewildering to me is despite this massive surge in COVID cases, and what is sure to be the first of many positive cases at work, that we are still expected to come into the office 2 days a week.  I will continue to ignore that guidance – I find it outrageous that I’m expected to go into the office at all when we still have to wear a mask all day (clearly a guidance created by people who have offices and therefore don’t need to wear their mask all the time – without any consideration towards us cube workers), and even more so now with the rapid spread of this new variant.  The rule that we are allowed to work remotely 3 days a week was supposed to end in the new year, so at least that’s now been extended through to the end of February.  But I will continue to work remotely 5 days a week until such time as someone calls me out on it, with the occasional ½ day in the office every now and then (such as for a particularly enticing free lunch being served). 

Melt Out

As the temperatures continue to remain above freezing, and the lingering snow is slowly disappearing, a few more observations:

• Before the snow totally disappeared, I came across these animal tracks on my back patio.  These look distinctly raccoon like.  I'm extremely disappointed that my trail camera didn't seem to catch them though - I think the camera lens fogged up with the temperature change from very cold back to normal, which seems like a bit of a design fault.

• What I've noticed as the snow has gradually melted off is that my yard is covered with new molehills.  I mean loads - they are all over the place, on all sides of my house.  I'm guessing that the critters couldn't dig through the hardened ground when we had the really cold temperatures, but now the temperatures are above freezing then they're more than making up for it.  I fear it could be a long battle with them this year.

• Although my driveway is clear, and most of the surface roads (at least the ones I need to use) are clear, my landlord's driveway - particularly down by the mailboxes - is not.  Which makes going to pick up mail a bit of an adventure.  What I think has happened is that water runoff from my landlord's neighbor is now draining right across the driveway towards where the mailboxes are.  Unfortunately with this cold snap, all this water froze and has left a slushy and extremely slippery mess - especially after they've been driving across it to really harden the ice.  I remember my landlord telling me that this neighbor has had flooding issues, and they had been working on it a lot over summer.  Unfortunately, it seems that all they managed to do was to redirect the water so now it's affecting all of us rather than just them.  Great.

Around the World in 80 Days

PBS here have just started airing episodes of Around the World in 80 Days with David Tennant.  Too early to pass judgement, but seems like a classic big budget kid-friendly early Sunday evening BBC One type of show.  However, watching it made me only think of one thing - and that thing is that I'd rather be watching the following:

They may take our lives, ...

... but they will never take our FREEDOM!

This was how I felt when I was finally able to take my car out today and get some much needed groceries.  I guess in this scenario I'm William Wallace, the ice melt/all the work I did to clear my driveway is the Scottish army, and the weather/road conditions/driveway slope is the English army.  Or something.  Whatever.  Feels good to finally get out - though I was slipping and sliding on some of the surface streets.  Now we're dealing with this icy and slushy mix, on a lot of roads that have not been treated with anything.  Which is fun to drive on... not.  At least the 10 day forecast doesn't have it getting below freezing again soon.    

More Animal Tracks

Well, disappointingly, the new year has started in very much the same way as the old year - I'm still unable to take my car out.  I'm fed up with feeling so trapped and isolated for this long now.  The temperature got all the way up to freezing today - so absolutely no sign yet of the snow and ice melting away.  I think tomorrow is going to be a big day - temperatures are supposed to get above freezing and there is going to be a lot of rain, so let's see if that helps clear my driveway.  I've cleared all the snow off it today, so only need to get rid of that surface ice layer.  I've got a little bit of ice remover left over from previous snowstorms, so I need to apply that tomorrow.  If that doesn't work, then I think I'm going to have to take up my landlord's offer to take me to the store!  In the meantime, I found a few more animal tracks over the last week.

I don't know what the first one is (maybe a pair of deer?), but let's take a closer look at that second track that was going up my driveway:

That sure looks like a paw pattern - is this the elusive coyote?  I hope so.  I wish I was a better animal tracking expert.