I'm 3 nearly 6

You can always find some nonsense on YouTube to cheer you up when you're having a crappy day.

Song of the Week #103

Some classic 80's today.  That's all.

State Symbols

Here are a few of Washington's state symbols:

State bird: Willow goldfinch

State fish: Steelhead trout

State tree: Western hemlock

State fruit: Apple (absolutely no surprise there)

State flower: Coast rhododendron

State vegetable: Walla Walla sweet onion

And the reason for this entry, because it was just announced yesterday:

State sport: Pickleball

Yes, pickleball - a "sport" I've never played, never seen played, and have absolutely no idea how it is played - is the new official sport of Washington state.  Ermm, whatever. 

Snapped

A sad day as my 100% record in Wordle was cruelly broken today.  I was an unfortunate victim of circumstance – I guessed pound, wound, sound and bound, instead of the correct answer found.  What kind of stupid language is it that has so many possible answers that end with the same 4 letters.  What can you do.  I was defeated by luck rather than skill. 

North American Open

Sunday is the day I normally play my nephew at Mario Kart on the Switch.  For a long time I was the far superior player, but that no longer seems to be the case.  Am I getting older, or is my nephew just getting better?  I suspect a little bit of one, a little bit of the other.  But I had noticed that a tournament was being conducted this weekend on Mario Kart, the North American Open.  So later on today, I decided to join this tournament to really test my abilities.  What a humbling experience that was.  After entering the tournament code, you are basically entered into random races against random opponents from across North America.  In almost every race I competed in, I didn't come anywhere close to winning - and was frequently the last non-AI player.  I am clearly nowhere near good enough as I thought I was or used to be.  It really was very humiliating losing to all these probably 12 year old kids.  But it reaffirmed my belief that I am simply not good at video games, especially modern video games (which is why I haven't bought many PS5 games, even though there are several that have had rave reviews and that I really want).  It has been a long time since what I would consider to be my peak video game playing years.  Which would be on the Spectrum some 30+ years ago.      

Relieve the Kraken

There's a reason I haven't waxed lyrical in this blog about the Seattle Kraken in their first season in the NHL.  It's because they suck.  They are bottom of the Pacific Division, by quite a long way, and have one of the worst records in the league.  Oh dear.  All that early season optimism and joy about Seattle finally getting a top level ice hockey team has quickly evaporated.  You couldn't get tickets at the start of the season, I think it's now pretty easy to watch a game if you really want to.  Not that you would.  I'd like to go see them play one day (I've only ever been to an ice hockey game once before - I saw the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim play a long time ago), but only when they've actually got something to play for.   

Football Italia

Oh my, it was quiet shocking to find out that Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup.  Again.  That is the European champions, Italy.  Shocking.  But hilarious.  The beautiful game.  At least their rugby team won a Six Nations game for the first time in forever.  

YAY!

I did it.  After 50+ completed games, I got today's Wordle on my first attempt.  The first time I've ever done that.  I wondered what the odds of that are.  There seem to be lots of competing theories on the internet, but apparently there are about 13,000 allowable words in the source code - so for simplicity's sake let's just say there was a 1 in 13,000 probability of my getting a word on the first attempt.  Nice.  Of course I don't expect you to believe me, but here it is copied from my phone:

Wordle 278 1/6

Of course it would be pretty easy to solve the Wordle on one device and then complete it in one go on another.  But nope, I really did get it first time.  You have to believe me....  and I still have a 100% success rate on Wordle.  I definitely do NOT have a 100% success rate on Worldle, which is a whole different and tougher kettle of fish.

Songs of the Week #102

We haven't had many post-2000 selections here, so time to change that.  And as a bonus, it's a double whammy - with 2 remarkably similar sounding songs from the mid to late 2000's.  And they sound the same despite one band coming from Nashville and the other from the Welsh valleys.  Weird to think that these are about 15 years old now, a time when I was buying a lot of CDs and was a lot more invested in current music.  I definitely can't say that now.  I can't tell whether music was just better this short time ago, or that I have aged and my tastes have changed dramatically since.       

It Happened Again

Well, someone has been driving on my lawn again.  But this time it was different, unbelievably they got stuck!

So my suspicions that it was an Amazon delivery driver the last time it happened were probably right.  This time he got caught turning around on someone's lawn.  What an idiot.  I wasn't prepared to offer much help to get him out, as well as having a few words about driving on there.  So he was stuck there for a few hours until a tow truck arrived.  He was apologetic, but whatever.  And when he was finally unstuck, look at the mess he left behind:

My landlord wasn't around, but I sent him these photos.  Oh boy, he wasn't happy!  I think he's going to try hard to get Amazon to pay for the repairs.  Perhaps this is also an opportunity to widen the driveway so at least there's a turning circle.  Otherwise I fear it's just going to happen again. 

March Crapness

I really hate the annual spectacle (of mediocrity) that is March Madness, which started last week - when a bunch of students from universities I've never heard of play a series of basketball games that no one really cares about.  But naturally I still filled in a bracket, because it was free and the prizes were huge.  Though the probability of accurately filling in a bracket is about 1 in 9.2 quintillion (though if you account for seeding, it might come down to only about 1 in 5.7 billion).  A quick check on my ESPN bracket shows that I'm in the barely above average 62% percentile (my ranking is about 6.6 million!).  I'll think I'll stick to doing the lottery.    

AFC Richmond

My cable company was offering some free to view Apple TV original shows over the weekend.  So I took the opportunity to binge watch all 10 episodes of Season 1 of Ted Lasso over the last few days,  And I really enjoyed the show - it stayed just the right side of being annoyingly optimistic and overly positive.  It's quite an achievement when you consider that Ted Lasso was only conceived as a character to promote the Premier League US TV rights moving to NBC Sports.  But what I didn't realize is just how much the fictional team of AFC Richmond is based on Crystal Palace.  They film at Selhurst Park, they have the same team colors, they are both based in South London (in fact I think they called Ted Lasso's first game - a heavy defeat to Palace - a local derby), and indeed in the last game of the season Palace beat Norwich 6-0 to mean that AFC Richmond only needed a draw to stay up.  Someone in the writer's room is clearly a Palace fan!     

Keep the change, ya filthy animal

It's been on my wishlist for a while, but look what I finally got this week:

The big question now - when do I construct it?  If ever?  I don't really have anywhere to display it right now.  So I guess it just stays boxed up, along with the way too many other unopened sets I've already got. 

A Dentist Visit

While sitting in the dentist's reception area this morning for an appointment, I noticed that some pictures that used to hang there were missing.  But I could still see the picture hooks on the wall.  So they must have been removed recently.  Now I've been in this reception area quite a few times over the last few years, and I remembered that there used to be articles/photos/certificates of the dentist there.  And then it dawned on me, this dentist that I had been seeing and who helped overcome my dental anxiety was probably no longer working there.  And probably hadn't been for a while.  This didn't really cross my mind the last time I was here, because I assumed it was just some associate dentist or hygienist who looked at me then - though I was disappointed the main guy didn't stop by to say hello, maybe he was just away that day.  And when I got home, I did some googling.  Although the website and most of what I could find seemed to suggest he still worked there, I found some more recent online reviews that said he had left in October last year.  Well, that is disappointing,  He was a nice guy who I got on well with, gave honest and straightforward dental advice, and always followed up after each visit to check I was OK.  And none of the staff or anyone there said anything about his leaving in the couple of times I've been there since - which is kind of weird.  Cannot say I'm a big fan of the new dentist, who is presumably the guy who worked on me today - I don't have the same level of rapport with, and now I've kind of lost trust in as well.  It might be time to find a new dentist.  In much the same way I need to find a new doctor.  Kind of annoying - I'm at an age where I want to be seeing the same health providers regularly who know my history, who know me, who I get on with, who I trust and who will not prescribe unnecessary treatments or work.  It's sad that I don't have that consistency right now - hopefully I can find some good new doctors this year.                   

e-Bond

I can't say I'm thrilled with the news today that Amazon now owns the James Bond franchise.  I don't know what that means going forward - especially as they haven't announced who the next Bond is going to be yet.  At least they don't own creative control - that's still in the hands of Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson.  I fear Amazon might try to copy the MCU model and try to produce lots of Bond TV shows and spinoffs.  Which would be a tragedy - so let's hope not.  And as long as they still release Bond films at the cinema, rather than direct to Prime Video.  In the meantime, I will continue to spend way too much money on overpriced James Bond merchandise (the latest thing I'm into, Corgi model cars from the franchise).       

Song of the Week #101

We haven't done much classic R&B or Motown here, so I need to fix that.  I only picked this one because the hook of this song randomly entered into my brain today just as I was thinking what song I should choose.  And even though I suspect the source of the hook is from an early 90's remix, I'm still plumping for the original here.  Bonus fact - it was co-written by Stevie Wonder.     

To Mask or Not To Mask

Washington state's indoor mask mandate ended over the weekend.  So it's been a very weird experience going to a couple of grocery stores over the weekend, and then into the office today.  I would say that despite the mask mandate ending, about half the people are still wearing a mask.  It makes you feel you are being judged for either wearing or not wearing a mask.  After all, it has become so politicized.  My attitude is one that if there is a sign on the front of the establishment asking that you wear a mask - as was the case at the first grocery store I went to - then I will honor that and wear a mask (not everyone did).  But if there is no sign, then I won't (even if it means you are being judged by other people behind their masks).  I think we're in that intermediate state where not wearing a mask in a store or in the office feels very unnatural, because you've got so used to doing it over the last few years.  It will take a little bit of time to adjust.    

Pacific Daylight Time

Our clocks went forward yesterday.  A ridiculous charade that we have to go through every year - completely redundant in this day and age.  And stupidly confusing - the fact that we don't observe daylight saving time on the same dates as Europe is preposterous (and meant that I missed watching Palace live and grind out a very credible draw against City today).  And even more preposterous is that 2 states in the US don't observe daylight saving time - Arizona and Hawaii.  But Navajo Nation, in Arizona, DOES observe daylight saving time.  So stupid.  Surely it's time to end this practice, I'm fed up with the struggle of my body adjusting to the time change.  It feels like self-induced and totally avoidable jet lag.       

Streaming

There are way too many streaming services, and it is ridiculous to expect me to subscribe to all of them.  Not to say expensive.  But what is particularly frustrating is that the best shows are spread out across all the different services - so I will always feel like I'm missing out on something.  I could try to watch as much as I can during the free trials that these services offer when you first subscribe to them and then unsubscribe before paying anything, but it just takes up too much time.  Just in the US, we have Netflix (which I don't have - so I've never watched The Crown or Squid Game), Amazon Prime Video (which I do have, but have only dabbled in - I'd like to start watching The Boys), Disney+ (which I don't have - so I've never watched any of the Star Wars or Marvel series), Peacock (which I do have - I mainly watch rugby and football through this), HBO Max (which I do have, but tend to watch and record things from the HBO channel rather than stream anything), Hulu (which I don't have - so I've never watched The Handmaids Tale), Apple TV+ (which I don't have - so I've never watched Ted Lasso), ESPN+ (which I don't have - so I miss out on the FA Cup and Championship games on this, which is really not a big deal unless Palace make it to the FA Cup final), Paramount+ (which I don't have - so I've never watched any of the recent Star Trek series), Acorn TV and BritBox (neither of which I have - and which have a load of British shows) plus a bunch of others (some that spring to mind include Starz, Showtime, Cinemax, AMC+, Sundance Now, ...).  Too many.  I hate the rise of streaming.  

F9

I watched F9 today - the 9th installment in the Fast & Furious franchise.  And it sucked.  A generous 2 out of 5 stars - and that's solely because it was about as good as I expected it to be.  Terrible storyline, terrible characters and really terrible acting.  But you don't watch any of these films for those things - you watch them for the action and the set pieces.  In the past, these have tended to be ridiculous but entertaining.  In F9, they were just ridiculous.  It's unbelievable to me that I think I've seen all the Fast & Furious films.  But for each one I am one and done - I have absolutely no intention of ever rewatching any of them, they're just not that good.  But as brainless spectacles they can serve a purpose if you don't feel like watching anything too taxing, and such was my mood today.  But even by Fast & Furious standards, this one was a disappointing letdown.           

Office Life

For the first time in 2022, I went into the office today.  And this will be the first of many Fridays I think I'll be going in.  It's quiet - there was literally nobody in my department in the office.  And the commute was very manageable.  But I did manage to catch up with a few fellow ping pong players - so I'm hoping I can start to play regularly again on Fridays (it's been 2 years since I last played, and I reckon I'm absolutely useless now - such is the narrow margin of error in how I play).  I will probably start coming into the office twice a week - I think the mixture of working from home and going into the office will be a good one.  Especially now that the indoor mask mandate is being lifted in our state - so no need to wear a mask in the office starting next week, thank god.  But the appeal of going into the office every day has definitely worn off.  I'm old-fashioned, so I don't like the fact that we no longer have a waste bin (for "environmental" reasons) nor a phone (if you call my work number, it now goes to Zoom) at our desks.  And there are no cheap sandwich options near the office anymore, which is unfortunate.  And during a lunchtime walk today, it dawned on me just how little I care for Seattle and the neighborhood where my office is located.  I think it's a very real possibility that I might become a remote worker one day - so I can move somewhere where I can actually afford to buy a house.            

Completion

This week has not been a good one.  Including work (our share price hit a 5-year low today, and I've been dealing with incompetent people; I had to rat a colleague out to my manager for doing such a bad job - if snitches get stitches, then I am in trouble); health (in addition to my continuing back pain, I've got some gum issues and have got to go to the dentists several more times this week and next week for some painful deep cleaning); and I'm getting increasingly peed off with my pyromaniac neighbor (yes, I know I develop an irrational hatred towards a neighbor everywhere I've ever lived, but this guy has been particularly irritating me recently - and I know I shouldn't let it bother me, but I can't help myself).  But on the positive side, at least I completed my silver coin collection this week (though let's not dwell on the exorbitant amount of money I spent on these):

Song of the Week #100

Well, well, well.  So we've reached #100.  A milestone that deserves a worthy pick.  So let's go for one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, live performance ever.  1985.  Saturday 13th July.  6.41 pm.  Wembley.  Live Aid.  Thousands of people in the stadium, millions of people watching from home (including me?  is that a real memory, or just wishful thinking?).  Is it 21 minutes of musical perfection?  Probably.  But undoubtedly it is an absolute clinic in how to have the audience eating out of the palm of your hand.

Broken

The algorithm is broken.  Help.  Spanish language adverts have started popping up while I'm watching YouTube videos.  Which is kind of weird.  How the heck did that happen?  I certainly haven't watched anything in Spanish.  The only thing I can think of, and this is a stretch, is that I have some Spanish language neighbors (which is true, I've heard them) and I wonder if my IP address has somehow got mixed up with theirs.  Or something.  It's all rather nefarious - I think I will blame Russian hackers. 

The Cost of War

What's going on in Ukraine is obviously a tragedy on so many levels.  But even many thousands of miles away, the affects are being felt.  Gas (petrol) prices reached a new all-time record high in our state today.  And I imagine that most Americans care a lot more about gas prices than some stupid war in the ass end of nowhere.  And while the gas prices have shot up, the stock market has shot down.  For example, my company's stock alone has lost nearly 20% since the start of the year.  This has had a disturbing impact to my retirement savings.  I normally wouldn't worry about this kind of thing - after all these are long-time investments that should ride out the ups and downs of the stock market.  But money is on my mind.  I just paid my outstanding taxes - which reached 5 figures, much more than I was expecting, so there went my bonus.  And I'm increasingly conscious of not being a property owner, and if I ever want to be then I need to work out what I can afford (which is, unfortunately, nothing round here).         

Black

I hate having a black car.  I tried washing it today, but for the life of me I couldn't get it looking clean.  Black seems to highlight the dirt, water spots and imperfections more than any other color.   I either need to spend hours meticulously cleaning every square inch with the best quality car cleaning products that money can buy, or shell out a load of money to get it properly detailed.  When I get my next car - and we're not too far away from that - then I will do my darnedest to ensure it isn't dark colored.  I only washed my car today because I was planning to go into the office tomorrow, and I didn't want to be embarrassed by how bad it looked in the garage.  But now I'm having second thoughts about going in.  I've actually got a lot of work I need to do tomorrow, and I think I've got a better chance of getting it done at home than I will in the office.  Me saying this 2 years ago would've been unbelievable - when I would actively avoid working from home.  How things have changed.    

Missing Cutlery

I've had a new set of cutlery for less than a month, and I've already lost a fork.  How the hell did that happen?  Presumably I threw it away by accident, but it's extremely frustrating.  Especially as it's an Ikea set that I bought ages ago, but now I can't find it on their website - I wonder if it's been discontinued?  Well, that's even more annoying.  An aside - America tends to use the word "flatware" or "silverware" more than "cutlery", though I think they are fairly interchangeable.      

Language

I've not been following the developments in Ukraine too closely, it's just too depressing (shelling nuclear power plants doesn't seem particularly sensible).  But I was wondering why the capital of Ukraine is being called Kyiv in the news, when I know it as Kiev.  And apparently the spelling and pronunciation are a political thing, surprise surprise.  The new name of Kyiv is the "correct" spelling (with a slightly different pronunciation) because it's Ukrainian in origin, whereas Kiev is Russian in origin.  Therefore, I will no longer use Kiev - even when the Russians inevitably take over the city.  Sorry if all of this is known to you already, it wasn't to me until I just looked it up.  

Entry Requirements

Only about a month now until my rescheduled trip back to the UK.  Knowing my luck, it's about this time that a new even more transmissible COVID variant will get discovered and throw my plans into disarray.  But before then, I was checking entry requirements to the UK.  And I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there are no longer any COVID testing requirements for vaccinated people entering the UK.  When I was going to travel in December, I was required to book and take a PCR test upon arrival - so I had booked and paid for a test at Heathrow.  When I canceled that trip, I got given a credit for retaking the test within a year.  I guess that credit is going to go unused now - yet another waste of money, much like the lateral flow test that I had also previously been required to book for the trip.  What is frustrating is that the US has not changed it's COVID entry requirements yet.  So to re-enter the US, currently I still have a take (and pass!) an approved COVID test within 24 hours of flying back.  Which is a massive, and expensive, pain in the ass.  However this time I am prepared for this.  I've just ordered a CDC-approved at-home COVID test which meets the requirements for re-entry.  It's still a bit of hassle in that I think I have to perform the test on a video call, but hopefully that's something I can do easily enough and a lot less hassle than finding somewhere (probably involving a trip into central London) to get the test.  Or perhaps the US will catch up with the rest of the world and also drop it's testing requirements for vaccinated people.           

Song of the Week #99

This week's choice comes courtesy of it being randomly mentioned during one of the podcasts I listen to.  I have some vague recollection of the song from the time it came out in the early 90's, but had totally forgotten about it's existence since.  I have no doubt that the artist suffers from some serious daddy issues.

Mid-Week Games

Since when did they start doing FA Cup games during the week?  Replays, yes.  But now they're playing the entire set of 5th round fixtures during the week?  Whatever.  So I was pleasantly surprised to go on the BBC website this evening and find out that Palace are through to the quarter finals.  I didn't even know they were playing today.  Not that I would've been able to watch the game, it was on ESPN+ which I don't have.  But perhaps it says a lot about how low the FA Cup is regarded that they can't even spare another weekend for this round of games.  Let's hope we get another Championship team in the quarters.