Rodents

First I caught a mouse inside my home, and now I'm being tormented by another mouse behind a downstairs wall.  The scrabbling noise the mouse is making against the wall has been driving me absolutely crazy for the last few days as I'm trying to "work" on my computer or watch TV.  God knows how it managed to get behind that wall - I can only assume it must be via the crawl space below the house as there is no other way in I can see.  Regardless, I mentioned it to my landlord and he has set up a few old-fashioned mouse traps complete with cheese bait.  But I don't think they will work - I've only ever seen the one mouse out in the open, and I caught it.  And I've seen absolutely no evidence of any other mice - no droppings, no signs of gnawing or anything.  So I suspect I will continue to be tormented by this infuriating scratching sound for a while yet.    

Song of the Week #125

A strange one this week - a dance track from the early 90's.  I don't recognize the song at all, yet this is what came up when I did a search on the lyrics - which somehow entered my consciousness this week from somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind.  It's funny how memory and the old brain works.  I don't even think this is the song I meant to remember - maybe I got the lyrics mixed up with something else (which wouldn't be the first time).   

Broken Record

It's insane that we are still seeing these news articles about Trump claiming he won the election, even though that election occurred nearly 2 years ago.  And he lost.  It's insane that he is still making these statements.  It's insane that it still makes the headlines.  It's insane that millions of people still believe his bullsh*t.  And it's insane that he is probably going to run for the presidency again, even if he gets indicted.  He's a crook - and everyone knows it.  Stealing classified documents is about the least of it.  If the Republican party had any sense, they would distance themselves from him.  But they can't, and I hope they suffer the consequences (but they probably won't, because the American people are so dumb).         

Dusk

I'm very confused.  It's 8.30 pm.  It's dark outside (it already feels like the days are getting shorter - sunset is before 8 pm now).  And one of my neighbors has decided to start mowing his lawn.  Which is insane.  And not the first time this has happened.  Admittedly, most people round here have a sit down lawn mower - and he probably has one with lights.  But still, why cut the grass so late?  As well as disturbing the neighbors, it is asking for trouble.  What if he runs over something he shouldn't do but didn't see?  There is no reason not to do this when it's still light outside - it's not like it was a particularly hot day or anything.  Was this really the only time he had free to do this?  It all seems very strange to me.           

A Bobcat Sighting

Yesterday evening, I was sitting down in my living room watching the telly - it was early evening, still light out - when a flash of movement or color caught my attention to my left through the back patio door.  And what did I see?  Only a bobcat, slowly sidling through my yard just beyond the patio.  Not a care in the world.  My first thought?  I need a photo of this.  Momentary panic - I wasn't sure where I'd left my phone.  Gathered my thoughts, grabbed my phone from the kitchen, and headed out to my conservatory - and yes, there was the bobcat still.  A quick photo through the window - not high quality, obviously had to be done in a rush - but at least I managed to finally capture the bobcat on film as it crossed my driveway and before it slinked away into the undergrowth and out of view.

That's kind of cool right!  Given the amount of deer I've been seeing in the yard this summer, which has been a lot, I'm guessing it was on the hunt for those.  Just today on the way out for a walk, I came across a family of deer just hanging out outside my house.

Health News

I don't want to end the week on a downer, but I have some health news to share.  Something I've been keeping to myself for a few weeks.  I have officially got type 2 diabetes.  Fortunately I have caught it early - my A1C is at the extreme lower limit of being defined as diabetes.  So it should be manageable, and shouldn't have any sort of massive affect on my quality of life - at long as I can keep it under control.  I'm certainly not asking for sympathy - I only have myself to blame for the years of abuse to my body through a sedentary lifestyle and a negligent diet and exercise regime.  Conversely, I'm not going to suddenly make enormous changes to my lifestyle - I'm not going to be able to sustain that.  It's much more important for me just to make gradual and sensible good decisions when it comes to what I drink/eat and how much I exercise etc etc.  I've been prescribed some medication to lower my cholesterol, and apparently the new blood pressure medication that I've just started recently should also help (it has already helped lower my blood pressure).  So let's see how it goes until my next checkup towards the end of the year.  And no need to worry about anything just yet.             

Welcome to Wrexham

I've just caught the first few episodes of Welcome to Wrexham.  For those who don't know, it's about 2 Hollywood stars who have taken over ownership of Wrexham AFC.  Who are in the National League (the 5th division - and as the show keeps reminding you, the lowest tier of professional football).  So far, it's an enjoyable and interesting docu-series - with a slight hint of artificiality, but thankfully more of a focus on the club and the community rather than the actual Hollywood stars.  You kind of wonder about the true intentions of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney - the fact that they were filming their pitch to the Wrexham supporters group before even being approved as the owners suggests that their priority was making this TV show from the outset above caring about the actual club or town.  And of course the series is highly produced for the American audience.  From explaining lots of things like the concept of promotion and relegation - something alien to American sports - to subtitles for any regional accent (none of which was necessary to my ear), to even providing translations for British terms than aren't familiar to Americans (such as getting "sacked"!).  Despite the nagging feeling that they just wanted to capitalize on the popularity of Ted Lasso in the US, it is entertaining enough to keep me watching.  Even if it's just a publicity stunt.         

A "Normal" "Working" Week

Mondays: "work" from home

Tuesdays: get into the office at 11 am, grab and eat a free lunch, head home at 2 pm

Wednesdays: "work" from home

Thursdays: get into the office at 11 am, grab and eat a free lunch, head home at 2 pm

Fridays: "work" from home

As you can tell by the amount of inverted commas, the term "work" is very loosely defined.  My professional life is not exactly very professional right now.

Song of the Week #124

A continuation from last week, this is also a rejected Bond theme.  But this is different, I didn't actually know about this one until recently.  Which is a surprise, considering I had actually heard the song several times before (it's on their greatest hits album, which I own).  How I didn't match up the film with the song name and lyrics I don't know.  However, if I'm going to be honest, this doesn't really sound much like a Bond theme so I'm not entirely disappointed it didn't get used - but it is a good tune in its own right.

Camano Island State Park (again)

I've mainly been hiking in forests recently, but I did go to the coast over the weekend.  Only up to Camano Island, somewhere I've been plenty of times before.  But generally not in the evening, which is when I went this time.  It was busy, but not as busy as I feared for a sunny weekend.  I was planning to walk the loop trail in Camano Island State Park - but when I got there, found out that part of the trail was closed.  So I just took an alternative trail - basically along a bluff overlooking the water, with occasional paths going down to the beach.  With all the ups and downs, it turned into a decent workout.  And actually found a nice (and surprisingly quiet) picnic site from which I think if I'd stayed longer I would have got to see a spectacularly colorful sunset over the water.  These photos will have to suffice instead.

House of the Dragon: Initial Thoughts (Spoiler Free)

It's 10.30 pm, and I've just finished watching the first episode of House of the Dragon.  So what did I think?  I liked it.  But I didn't love it, at least not just yet.  It didn't draw me in in the same way that Game of Thrones did.  It's good to return to the Game of Thrones universe - albeit 200 years earlier.  But House of the Dragon has started very dark and a lot more serious.  And the characters are, at least so far, not as interesting as those in Game of Thrones - it made me miss Tyrion and the over the top villainy of someone like Joffrey.  But the show looks as good as ever - and with a lot of the character introductions done, I hope the series can find it's footing.  It has at least removed the foul taste that was the flawed last season of Game of Thrones, which can only be a good thing.         

Getting my zzz's

The other birthday present I wanted to get myself was a new mattress.  Something I've wanted to get for a little while now.  I've even done my research and know which mattress I want to get (and yes, it is a mattress designed for plus-sized people - but needs must).  But for some reason, I have not pulled the trigger on buying it yet.  Why the reluctance?  Is it the cost?  Yes, it is not cheap - especially as I need a more expensive king-sized mattress for my king-sized bed.  But I have a $500 annual wellness credit through work which I believe I can use towards the cost of the mattress.  That's something I need to check up on next week.  Is it the logistics of getting a new mattress?  Getting big items delivered to my address can be problematic with less than ideal access.  Then I have the problem of disposing of the old mattress - I think my landlord said he might be able to help with that.  But even then, moving the new mattress in and moving the old mattress out are not tasks I can do by myself - this is a 2-person job at least, so I need to either persuade my landlord or one of my friends into helping me out.  And then there is the timing.  I am increasingly thinking that I want to move away from the Greater Seattle area sometime within the next few years.  Living here is no longer as appealing as it used to be for all sorts of reasons.  So maybe delaying the purchase of a new mattress until I move somewhere would be more practical.  I don't know, I suspect I will still order it next week - as I get older then getting a decent night's sleep is more important than ever, so I don't think I should compromise or delay on this.       

Happy Birthday

A "little" birthday treat for myself, look what arrived this week:

The photo doesn't do this justice, it is HUGE.  By far the biggest and heaviest (and one of the most expensive?) Lego sets I've ever purchased.  Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't build this because I don't have anywhere to display it.  And I suspect this needs a BIG display area.  So for the moment, it remains an unboxed investment.   

A Pest

Imagine my surprise when I was using the downstairs bathroom - sitting down on the toilet if you get my drift - and I saw a mouse suddenly appear from beneath the bathroom vanity.  It is probably the closest I've ever come to quite literally having the sh*t scared out of me!  I knew that there were probably mice in the house - I've heard them behind the walls - but this was the first time actually seeing one out in the open.  I have no idea if this was it's first foray downstairs, I haven't seen any evidence of mouse dropping anywhere.  I'm going to assume not, I don't want to think about the other possibility!  It quickly disappeared back under the unit from either a noise or movement I made.  So what to do about it?  Well, first thing I did was get an old towel and block the space beneath the unit - I didn't want the little bugger escaping.  Then a trip down to the hardware store.  What to get?  So many choices - a traditional spring-loaded trap, fancy electronic ones, ones that trap them alive, ones that kill.  In the end, I went for a double whammy - a bait station and a glue trap.  And I immediately set them up under the bathroom unit.  After 24 hours, the only thing I'd caught was a spider on the glue trap.  But then after 48 hours, success.  It doesn't look like anything touched the bait at all, but the glue trap had done it's job and captured a mouse.  But what I didn't think about was that although the mouse was stuck on the glue, it was still alive and making small movements.  Very unsettling.  I think it was beyond rescuing, so how to end it's life and dispose of it.  In the end, I kind of squashed it and threw the whole glue trap away - but it didn't feel like a particularly ideal or humane way to deal with the situation.  Now my only worry is whether that was the only mouse, or whether there are others.  So I've set up a new glue trap, and let's see if we capture anything else in the next few days.      

Song of the Week #123

This week, the Bond theme that should have been but never was (they chose Sam Smith over this - really?!?!).

Better Call Saul

A word on Better Call Saul, which aired it's season and series finale yesterday.  It was a satisfying, if mildly underwhelming, send off for a quality show.  And sadly that's another prestige TV show that bites the dust - maybe the last one from a pre-streaming era.  I think I need to rewatch Better Call Saul in it's entirety - I've always considered it inferior to Breaking Bad, but it really should be considered on it's own terms.  And it is undoubtedly a quality show - with the cinematography being particularly outstanding.  I'm not sure I liked the fact that the last half dozen or so episodes were predominantly in black and white - an unfortunate carryover from scenes on this timeline in the early seasons.  But I feel I'm focusing too much on the few negatives from a show that had so many positives - it was profound, immersive, detailed, and maybe had more interesting characters and showed more evolution than Breaking Bad during it's run.  I'm almost talking myself into thinking that Better Call Saul may be better than Breaking Bad - but I don't think I can go quite that far yet.  It will be interesting to discover which show has more longevity - let's revisit this in 5 or 10 years time.         

Ups and Downs

There is a park I go to regularly for a walk - at least once a week.  It consists of a number of different trails that combine together to make a decent length loop back to the parking lot.  But what is a mystery to me is that if I do the loop clockwise, I feel like there are more uphill sections and I am pretty tired by the time I get back to the car.  But if I do the loop anticlockwise (or as the Americans prefer to say, counter-clockwise) then the hike seems a lot easier and I feel like I have loads of energy by the time I'm finished and that I could probably go on for a few more miles.  This shouldn't happen - there shouldn't be any difference in elevation change.  Very strange - it's not like the uphill sections all occur at one end of the loop, or that there are any significant differences in gradient depending on which direction you go.  Whatever.    

EPL

I'm making a conscious effort to watch less football this season, but did enjoy a couple of games this weekend.  The first was the feisty affair today between Chelsea and Spurs - games with a bit of an edge are always better, even if most of the aggro was between the managers rather than on the pitch.  And of course the other highlight was Brentford routing Man Utd - which was hilarious.  But frankly Man Utd deserved to lose with those hideous kits they were wearing.  Unfortunately I fear Palace will also be on 0 points after tomorrow's game with Liverpool.  Tough couple of fixtures to start the season - we'd better get some points from the next couple. 

Lego 007 Aston Martin DB5

My ideal combination - Lego and 007.  Just got and put together the new James Bond Aston Martin model.  It's nowhere near as big as the previous Aston Martin model (which is now retired), but it will still look good next to it on my shelf.  And it even comes with a Lego James Bond figure.  Though I cannot say I approve of the hair color - I feel like Bond is best with black hair.

A Murder Mystery

I have a real life murder mystery on my hands.  I headed out this morning to find a dead bird (I think an American robin) on my doorstep.  How did it get there?  How did it die?  There are many possibilities.  Was it killed by a predator?  Unlikely, as the bird looked untouched after it's death.  Did my landlord's cat leave it as a present for me?  Similarly unlikely, although I have recently discovered that it is the cat that has been setting off the motion sensor lights above my front door during the night.  Then an inspection of the crime scene revealed some telling evidence.  A paintball-like splatter on the side of my house above where the bird was found.  So my working theory is that the bird few into the side of my house, and either the shock or the impact from that was the cause of death.  Why would it fly into the side of my house?  Perhaps it was being chased by a crow (another reason to hate them) or a bird of prey (I don't see them very often, but they are around - they killed a rabbit in my yard a few years ago).  Perhaps it died of old age - I remember Basil, our family budgerigar, was prone to flying into walls and suchlike in his last days (RIP).  But the mystery, and it's a big one, is the color of the splatter on the side of my house.  It is green/grayish.  I can't explain that.  What would cause it to be that color, and how would the bird have caused that?  Any possible explanations welcome.        

A Slow Fortnight

My manager is out this week and next week, and I have absolutely zero work to do.  So how to pass the time?  I've been going out for walks, I am slowly emptying my DVR (which I want to do before cutting the cord) and I am watching WAY too much YouTube.  The YouTube wormhole I'm currently going down is watching a lot of GTA V videos - a video game that I haven't even played.  But that doesn't stop my enjoyment of watching other people either race or role-play in it.  God knows when I might actually have some proper work to do again.  It's been way too long, and I don't think it's good for me to be so unengaged with my job.  The situation is ridiculous - I'm being paid quite a lot of money for doing practically nothing and only being kept around in the off-chance that some sizable work eventually comes our way.  Which doesn't seem like any time soon.    

I don't get it

There is a specific American phenomenon that I don't get.  That I've never got.  That I don't find funny, compelling or in any way entertaining.  Just a bunch of immature morons acting like asses.  Yep, I watched Jackass Forever today.  A "film" that got an unbelievable 86% on Rotten Tomatoes and was a commercial success.  I hated it.  No, that's an understatement - I loathed it.  I don't understand why it's still a thing - it was a crappy niche MTV show that I never watched 20 years ago, and here we are still talking about it now.  Nope, it is definitely not for me.   

Song of the Week #122

An 80's classic this week - and one I hadn't heard for ages until yesterday night when it was played across the end credits of a show I was watching (and another TV recommendation - Industry).

Quiz

I would be very curious to know how some of you get on with the following quiz - where you identify British foods by their image:

https://www.sporcle.com/games/triplet_3/british-foods-by-image

I won't include any spoilers here, but I got 13/24.  Which I thought was a really quite appalling score - until I saw the answers.  I would NEVER have got a whole bunch of these.  In fact, I haven't even heard of some of these "British" foods.  Yes, I could definitely have got a couple more - but I don't feel so bad about my result now.  And I don't need to blame my Americanization on my poor score.  Or at least not much...   

A TV Recommendation

My favorite TV show currently airing - at least until House of the Dragon starts - is The Rehearsal.  It's on HBO, and it stars Nathan Fielder.  If you haven't heard of him, he is a Canadian comedian.  And let's just say that his shows are a bit of an acquired taste.  But I think The Rehearsal is brilliant - it's a docu-comedy that is extremely funny, extremely weird and utterly compelling.  It's unlike anything else I've ever seen on TV - perhaps the closest thing in spirit to it is a Charlie Kaufman film, and that is high praise indeed.  The basic premise is that he helps people rehearse difficult conversations or life events though the use of sets and actors hired to recreate real situations.  But the series quickly goes WAY beyond this, and to to say much more would be to spoil it.  I don't know if or when it will air in the UK, but highly recommend catching it if you can.     

Blu ray player

Well, dang it.  A special 60th anniversary edition Blu ray of Dr No is being released with lots of extras, exactly the kind of thing I'd like to get, but I think it is a UK-only release.  Which means that it's not going to work on my PS5 (UK is Region B, US is Region A).  I might have to consider buying a region free Blu ray player.  Which is probably a good idea, because I've got a ton of DVDs from the UK that I also can't currently play.

Bonus

I had some good news this week.  I was awarded a "Key Contributor grant" - apparently it's a program that recognizes individuals who are critical to driving our company's future success (or so it says in the letter I got!).  And it's not an insignificant amount of money.  But the catch is that it's not a direct cash bonus, but I've instead been awarded some time-based restricted shares.  Basically they invest over a 3-year period - I receive a third each year.  Based on our current share price, it's worth over $20,000.  So that's a nice little bonus!  I've been awarded RSU's in the past, but not for ages and I think this is the first time since I rejoined the company.  But this came as a complete surprise, and frankly I haven't done nearly enough work in my job recently to warrant this.  So why have I been given it now?  I have some theories.  Possibly it's because they think I might want to leave my job soon - I certainly seem to give off the energy of someone who wants to leave.  It might also be because I haven't been promoted for ages, and I'm probably overdue a promotion that I'm not going to get anytime soon because again I haven't done nearly enough work recently to justify it.  Or, the worse case scenario, I'm about to be assigned a nightmarish and stressful project to work on - and this is to soften me up.  So I have my suspicions.  Or perhaps I'm just an ungrateful SOB!            

Camano Ridge Trail

Earlier this week, I braved the heat to walk a new trail to me - Camano Ridge Trail on Camano Island, about an hour's drive north.  I did take a couple of photos, but this is typical Pacific NW forest habitat so it looks like a lot of other trails I do regularly.  The difference was that this one was pretty quiet - I only encountered 2 people on the entire loop, a jogger and a forager.  So if I'm seeking solitude, this is the hike to do.  I must have walked about 4 miles around the perimeter of the trail - but you could easily make this a shorter or longer hike by taking different routes.  And it has just enough ups and downs to make it a nice little workout.  And much like several hikes I've done recently, I was plagued by bugs - despite spraying myself liberally with bug spray.  It gets to the extent where you imagine you hear buzzing in your ear even when there isn't anything there, and it drives you crazy.  And then you discover several new insect bites when you get home.  This summer seems to have been particularly bad for this.  But with more warm weather in the forecast, it's not going to stop me going out.

We Met In Virtual Reality

I saw the documentary We Met in Virtual Reality a few days ago, which was filmed entirely in virtual reality.  In a word, it's weird.  But it has stuck in my consciousness for a few days now, so it must have done something right.  But I definitely have some thoughts:

- I thought the graphics in virtual reality would be a bit more technologically advanced than what they showed here.  It didn't look good - very glitchy.  I think we have a long way to go for virtual reality to really become something more mainstream than what it is.  This is not The Matrix.

- Because this was filmed entirely in virtual reality, what I was really curious about was what these people featured in the documentary looked like in real life.  Instead they just had these preposterous avatars.  For example, I very much doubt this big-breasted, short-skirted character in the documentary looked anywhere near as attractive in real life.  They should have included little thumbnails next to each avatar, showing what these people really looked like.

- Reality and virtual reality are not the same.  It was quite disturbing how many of these people seemed to blur the lines.  There was a "virtual" marriage featured in this documentary, with the implication that these people would actually get married in real life.  I just don't see that working out.  Virtual reality cannot replicate physical touch, eye contact, other fundamentals - you'll never be able to show all and be all your full self in a virtual world.  It's why virtual reality will always be flawed.

- As someone who doesn't even embrace social media, I don't see myself embracing these virtual reality communities any time soon.  They don't appeal to me in any way whatsoever, and it all seems a bit weird and a bit off.  But of course our "real" reality could in fact be a very advanced virtual reality - so this could in fact be a virtual reality within a virtual reality.  If that's the case, then unplug me now.

Song of the Week #121

Another 70's classic - with a particularly funky bass.

Monday

It's Monday.  I'm tired and hot and I don't feel like writing anything.  This is why I'm thinking about taking a break from the blog for a little while - it's started to become a bit of a chore.  TBD.