Dash Cam

I don't have a dash cam in my car, but I think I should get one.  I watch a lot of those YouTube videos of dash cam footage of bad driving and accidents.  And it's quite terrifying how bad some of the driving and drivers in the US are.  And my real life experience of driving in the US backs that up (though judging from the YouTube videos, driving in Russia would seem to be a hundred times worse).  But what I find ridiculous is that about half of these people who presumably send in their dash cam footage are either oblivious or ignorant to the fact that they are as much as fault as anyone else.  Which is scary.  There are also videos of bad UK driving, but I'd generally say that US divers are a LOT worse than the UK.  Americans don't know how to deal with roundabouts, don't use their indicators, and pay little heed to stopping distances and speed limits.  The sense of entitlement, the general disregard for road conditions and your surroundings, driving these needlessly big vehicles really badly, and a litigious society all combine to explain why I have to pay so much for my car insurance.  Of course this blog entry has nothing to do with the fact that my next car insurance payment is due shortly.     

Film Collection

I've been going a bit crazy with the number of collector's edition Blu-ray/4K disc sets I've been buying recently.  From The Criterion Collection, that includes The Irishman, The Silence of the Lambs, and Being John Malkovich.  From The Film Vault, that includes Goodfellas, Scarface, 1917, and (via a birthday/xmas present request) Blade Runner.  Other special/limited edition sets include All Quiet on the Western Front, Full Metal Jacket, The Lighthouse, and Midsommar.  But perhaps my most important purchase, and definitely one of my best purchases, is "The Ultimate Restored Edition" of The World at War - arguably the greatest documentary series ever made, and which I got for a steal on eBay.  This has all meant that I am increasingly pleased with the film collection I have built up over the years (with only a few misfires in the early stages).  However, it does mean that I have an awful lot of films and extras to catch up on.   

Major League Cricket

It was brought to my attention over the weekend that some kind of cricket tournament similar to the IPL is being organized in the US.  Which was news to me.  It certainly hasn't made the US sports headlines yet.  Which is somewhat discouraging if they expect cricket to gain a foothold in the US (which I doubt it ever will).  So I've looked up more details, and apparently the "Seattle Orcas" are one of the 6 teams that are going to compete.  Despite the fact that we don't have a cricket venue (but apparently there is a 6,000 seat cricket stadium being planned near the Microsoft campus, which is not a surprise given the number of Indians that work there and that one of the owners of the team is the Microsoft CEO).  What most surprised me was that this is apparently going to be a professional league.  Professional US cricketers?  That seems unlikely when nobody in the US even knows anything about the game - but a bit like MLS, I imagine they can bring in and overpay a load of foreign players who are either nowhere near good enough for their home country or are well past their best.  They have started drafting players for the 6 teams, but since I don't know any of the people being drafted I can't say how good they are.  But quite a lot of them seem to have international caps, so maybe it's not a total disaster.  But with the inaugural tournament due to start this summer, I hope one of the big networks (like ESPN) have the TV rights and actually promote the tournament.  Because I see absolutely no anticipation for it so far.  

TV Theme Tunes #23

I read today that the rebooted Challenge Anneka TV show has already been pulled.  So it seems only appropriate that this is my choice today, another very iconic theme tune.

Skiing

I couldn't care less about Gwyneth Paltrow's ski-collision trial.  But when I see headlines about it, all I can think is thank god I didn't try to learn to ski in the US.  The only time I went, which was a long time ago but thankfully in Europe, I remember ploughing uncontrollably straight into a child - something that sounds remarkably similar, if not worse, than what Gwyneth Paltrow allegedly did.  If that was in the US, I would undoubtedly be sued for traumatic brain injury and whatever extensive mental health damage I caused to that child.  Such is the ingloriously litigious society I live in over here.  My total lack of control is one of the many reasons I hated skiing, and why I never have and have never wanted to ski again.    

A Big TV Night

I'm writing this in the early evening, in anticipation of the biggest TV night of the year so far.  We have the return of Succession (a very bittersweet feeling - it's the best show currently on TV, but it's devastating to know that this is it's final season).  We also have the return of Yellowjackets - a very buzzworthy show (pun intended), and one difficult to describe - maybe a coming-of-age survival horror?  It's well worth watching though.  What other big shows are on my radar right now?  Lucky Hank is also on Sunday nights - Bob Odenkirk's next project after Better Call Saul - that has some potential but I'm not totally sold on it yet.  I'm also currently watching Perry Mason - very film noir-ish.  And another detective series, Under the Banner of Heaven - an interesting crossover between murder and Mormonism.  Otherwise, it's the usual junk.     

Whoops

Oopsy, I forgot to post something on my blog yesterday.  My Chromebook ran out of power earlier in the day, and I charge it up in a different room.  When it's not within eyesight as I'm watching TV in the living room in the evening, it's easy to forget I need to write something.  Or is this symbolic of my deteriorating mind as I get older?  I hope not.  Mind you, it probably didn't help that my evening was kind of disrupted by a late night Skype call.  And I don't really have anything substantial to say - and I haven't really had anything substantial to say for a while, making me question the necessity of continuing this blog.  At least on a daily level.  Let's see how much of a burden it becomes... 

Friday

I don’t care if Monday’s blue.  Tuesday’s gray and Wednesday too.  Thursday I don’t care about you.  It’s Friday I’m in love.  Monday you can fall apart.  Tuesday, Wednesday, break my heart.  Oh, Thursday doesn't even start.  It's Friday, I'm in love.  Saturday wait.  And Sunday always comes too late.  But Friday never hesitate.  I don't care if Monday's black.  Tuesday, Wednesday, heart attack.  Thursday never looking back.  It's Friday, I'm in love.  Monday you can hold your head.  Tuesday, Wednesday, stay in bed.  Or Thursday watch the walls instead.  It's Friday, I'm in love.

Autographs

An exciting evening, as I had bid on 9 James Bond autograph cards on eBay and the auctions finished today.  And how did I do?  I won 3.  Just 3 out of 9, that's not a good return.  I confess to feeling disappointed - particularly as I didn't win any of the big ticket items (for example, I lost out on Yaphet Kotto [Dr Kanaga/Mr Big in Live and Let Die] and Marguerite Lewars ["photographer'" in Dr No].  Not the biggest names, but these went for $332 and $250 respectively, so this is not small change!).  It's clear that the autographs I already own, plus the ones I get in the future, are not just good collector items but make an excellent investment.  But I don't know the market, so buying them is still something of a learning process.  I was bidding by looking for similar autographs already for sale on eBay, and putting in maximum bids at around 2/3 to 3/4 of the lowest price I could find.  But for the pricier autographs, I think I need to go bigger to stand a chance of winning.

TV Theme Tunes #22

I wanted to pick a theme from a classic American show this week, and surprisingly this iconic and instantly recognizable theme came to mind.  Of all the great shows I could have chosen from, yep it was this one.  The mind works in mysterious ways.

Desperation

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  So I was surprised to read that Roy Hodgson is going to manage Palace for the rest of the season.  That feels like a distinct step backwards.  But I was mostly surprised because I didn't even know Patrick Vieira had been let go.  Not so much that he was sacked, which isn't a surprise when you consider Palace's position, but that he was sacked last week and I didn't know.  It didn't make the US sports headlines, and I've been so preoccupied with other stuff that I haven't really been paying much attention to the football headlines (I was going to watch a replay of Palace's game against Arsenal over the weekend, but then I saw the final score and didn't bother).  Can Roy Hodgson save our season?  I doubt it - but I shall pass judgement over April.  Leicester, Leeds, Southampton, Everton, Wolves, West Ham.  Every single one of these games is a relegation six-pointer - all of these teams are currently below us.  The key is whether Roy can get us scoring more goals.  That's not really his thing, so that's why I remain pessimistic.       

SD

I've started seeing quite a few ads on TV for visiting San Diego.  And it's working.  I miss San Diego.  Not just for visiting, but also for living.  Would I consider moving back there?  It's something I've thought about, and continue to think about, a lot and it's not beyond the realms of possibility.  Yes, it's probably changed a lot since I lived there.  Yes, I've probably changed a lot since I lived there.  But for great quality of life, I don't think it can be beat.  But, and it's a big but, it's so expensive.  Really expensive.  So much more expensive even than Seattle.  And that's a problem.  A problem that won't stop me from continuing to visit San Diego, but will probably stop me from moving back there permanently.  I need to come up with a better plan if I'm ever going to become a homeowner.             

Hiking

I haven't done as much hiking as I'd like recently.  But that should change, for 2 reasons.  Firstly, the weather seems to have turned a corner.  I didn't have to use the heating this weekend, which seems like the first time in a very long time.  And secondly, I bought some hiking books with some new hikes to try out.  Previously I just had a book of urban trails to the north of Seattle, now I've got got books for urban trails to the east of Seattle and within Seattle itself.  Most of the Seattle trails I'm familiar with, but not many on the Eastside - so I look forward to hopefully finding some new favorites.   

Taxes

It was probably the warmest day of the year so far today.  And how did I spend it?  Doing my taxes.  I filed my tax return, accompanied by the depressingly predictable huge amount of money I owed the taxman.  When you owe an amount that is in 5 figures, it is not a good day.  Because this amount of money is subject to a penalty fee, I've decided that I need to start making additional tax payments throughout the year so that I can avoid a similar kind of situation when I file my taxes next year.  I should also consider using a proper tax professional, rather than the fancy tax software that I currently use.  But I don't know if it will really make much difference, other than costing me more and saving me a bit of time.  If I want to reduce my tax bill, what I really need to do is buy a house.        

Backyard Action

I checked my trail camera footage today.  Lots of squirrel and rabbit action, some deer action, no bobcat sightings, and then there is this guy:

I noticed this week that one of my hummingbird feeders is going down a lot quicker than all my other feeders.  I suspect this guy might be drinking from it.  This is a problem.   

March Madness

March Madness started today, and I didn't even fill in a bracket - even though I won some stuff last year.  Such is (a) my indifference to the stupid tournament and (b) I've been so busy at work that I haven't had time to think about anything else.  So there may be loads of basketball on TV over the next few weeks, but I shall not be watching any of it.  No harm no foul.   

Data Entry

Currently plumbing new depths with my job - for the last few days, I've been doing data entry.  Mindless, boring, repetitive data entry.  A task totally beneath me.  A task I've never done before in my 20+ years in this industry.  Utterly ridiculous.  But perhaps the masochist in me kind of likes it.  You can switch your brain off, stick some music on, and get into a comfortable pattern of entering the data.  Regular short breaks, longer celebratory breaks when you reach certain milestones, there is a certain amount of satisfaction to be found.  And boy does time fly.  I've been in the office for the last few days, and have been staying until well after 7 pm.  And it's been fine.  Someone needs to do it, and I'm happy to be the one.     

TV Theme Tunes #21

One of those kids shows from the 80's that I don't remember anything about.  Well that's not entirely true, I remember it being about football, that it was set in Newcastle, and I remember the theme.  So imagine my surprise when I watch the opening credits and it says "By Sid Waddell".  No, surely not THAT Sid Waddell?  Famous darts commentator Sid Waddell?  A quick look on Wikipedia, and sure enough it is.  Well I never.  

Bowling

Went bowling tonight with a couple of friends.  And I sucked.  So disappointing, I have been much better than this in the past.  My scores over 4 games were: 101, 98, 77, 91.  That is crap.  I should be over 100 on every game, at a minimum.  It's incredibly frustrating, because I like going bowling - it's a silly fun game that allows for great camaraderie.  To the extent that I wouldn't say no to joining a league.  But I think I have to prove to myself than I can bowl a bit more consistently and a bit better than I showed tonight.   

The Last of Us

It was the Oscars tonight and .... don't care.  No, tonight was about the first season finale of The Last of Us.  And a great ending to a great series.  Hasn't been a bad episode, and the finale was no exception.  Yes, there has been some overlap with some storylines in the Walking Dead, and the finale did feature a cartoonish video game type sequence - but even that has not detracted from the quality.  This is classic big budget prestige HBO TV - high production values, good acting, good characters, good visuals, good plot, and by far the best video game to TV adaptation.  I look forward to the second series.  But not as much as I'm looking forward to the final season of Succession - up next on HBO. 

A bad (sports) day

Palace's league record for 2023: 0W, 5D, 5L.  That is relegation form.  

And then I had the misfortune to watch a replay of the England-France rugby game - where we were embarrassingly outclassed.

And as I write this, I'm watching GB losing to the US in the baseball (though that really doesn't come as a surprise, and we're not losing as much as I feared).

And all of this after I ended up spending most of Saturday working, thanks to the frustratingly inconsistent workload of my job.  I had a long list of things I wanted to do today, and didn't have time to do any of them.  And our clocks go forward tonight, so I've got less time to do everything tomorrow (including the depressing prospect of starting on this year's tax return where I think I'm going to owe lots of money).      

World Baseball Classic

There is a little known sports tournament going on right now – the 2023 World Baseball Classic.  It is essentially the World Cup of baseball – somewhat ironic given that the US has the “World Series” to decide who the best team in baseball is, so I don’t think it is really given much credibility in the US.  Well I only mention this tournament because Great Britain qualified for it for the first time ever.  I didn’t even know we had a national team!  And we play our first games over the weekend – with the first game against the US.  I don’t know if they have a mercy rule in this tournament, and I don’t know what caliber of players will represent the US, but I suspect they will absolutely crush us.  Indeed, I see that Britain is the lowest world ranked team in the tournament (#24).  I imagine it’s a bit like rugby, where the gap between the best countries in the world and the others is absolutely enormous.  But had I known this tournament was going on earlier, I might have gone to Phoenix to catch one of the GB games.  Particularly as going there in person might be the only way I could actually purchase a GB baseball jersey.  I had a look online, and there are absolutely none to be found for sale.  Which is disappointing, I quite fancied getting one.  Mind you, I haven’t seen what they look like yet…!  Been interesting to look up some details of the GB team – I was shocked to see that Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman had previously coached the team.  He was the star player as the closer for the San Diego Padres when I lived in San Diego, and who I’ve actually seen pitch in San Diego many times (albeit a while ago now).  Apparently GB has only ever had a few actual major leaguers in history, none of whom I recognize.  And the one professional player we have now (who is actually Bahamian!), was not allowed to play for GB by his team the Florida Marlins.  Which says a lot about the standing of the tournament! 

Not So Young

I caught a little bit of Young Sheldon today - the prequel to The Big Bang Theory.  Not a show that I watch regularly, and it was quite disturbing to see how much the lead actor who plays the "young" version of Sheldon Cooper has aged in 6 seasons (120 episodes!) .  He's gone from being a cute and just about passable version of a young Jim Parsons, to looking, sounding and acting nothing like Jim Parsons.  It's extremely unsettling, and perhaps a clear indication that the series has run it's course.  At least the actor doesn't come across as loathsome as a couple of the kid actors became in Modern Family.  Interestingly, it seems that the show has somehow evolved so that the lead/title character is no longer the most important or the most interesting one in the show.  Perhaps that's why it's still going.    

$200

Do I spend $200 on an overnight hotel stay?  Like on a Saturday night, so I could do some hiking in some further flung parts of Washington state over a weekend.  Or do I spend it on some stupid James Bond model cars?  Yep, you've guessed it.  Apparently my priorities are messed up.  Though, in my defense, the weather hasn't exactly been conducive for that kind of trip - though that should change as we finally leave the winter weather behind.

TV Theme Tunes #20

This week, a theme tune from a BBC sitcom that I haven't thought about for 25 years - when it last aired on BBC1.  I seem to remember that I quite enjoyed the show, though wouldn't exactly call it must-see TV.  It would be interesting to revisit an episode to see how well it has aged.  Or not.

Big Brother

I don't have any meetings tomorrow, my manager is at a conference, so why am I still thinking of going into the office tomorrow?  Well, this is unsettling, but apparently our in-office attendance is being tracked by our key cards.  This is why they have started sharing information with management about how many days of the week people are going into the office.  And, as was presented at a recent all-hands meetings, a relatively large percentage of our department are coming in less than they should do.  I have this horrible feeling that they are going to insist on us coming into the office more often, and that individual people may start getting warnings about their attendance if they don't.  This is a ridiculous level of oversight that I don't approve of - treating employees with a lack of respect and a lack of trust.  If working from the office or working from home doesn't make any difference to how good a job we do - which is the case for almost all of us - then it shouldn't matter where we work.  And if the next step is to start monitoring the actual number of hours we spend in the office, which would seem logical, then I am in real trouble!    

Birdlife

A couple more photos from my trail camera.

It's a bit difficult to make out, but I think this is an owl (though what kind of owl, I've got no idea).  Considering the photos are taken about 3 am, I don't think it's likely to be any other bird of prey.  Hopefully they caught a mole or a mouse.     

Madness

A little US factoid for your pleasure: Madness are considered a one-hit wonder in the US ("Our House" was their only hit over here).

Graupel

I thought the last of the winter weather might be over after waking up to snow on Tuesday.  It was only a trace amount - a lot less than the couple of inches forecast - and quickly melted away.  But imagine my surprise when I came back from the office yesterday to be greeted with this:

I took the photo this morning, these little balls of ice hadn't melted yet.  I think this is graupel.  Or maybe not.  I cannot really tell you the difference between hail, graupel or ice pellets (and even more confusingly, ice pellets are called sleet in the US).  Either way, you don't get them that often.  This was an extremely localized event - on the drive back from work, I didn't see any evidence of this stuff coming down anyway else until I got to a few blocks away from my house.  And it was certainly not in any weather forecasts that I saw.  At least we might finally see some better weather next week.        

So tired

It's been a tough week work-wise.  Office politics, ill-advised initiatives, communication breakdowns, flawed resource management, more talk of "standardization", putting out fires, incompetent colleagues, having to brave the rush-hour commute multiple times, a wildly fluctuating workload.  I'm not sleeping well, I'm stressed out and I can tell that my blood pressure is inflated.  This shouldn't be happening - I'm incredibly apathetic to my job right now.  So why am I letting things get to me?  It's not worth it.  I need to chill out.  And maybe I need to prioritize my well-being.  The idea of taking a sabbatical from work is getting increasingly appealing.  And important.   

Weird Photo

I was checking my trail camera, and came across this "interesting" photo: 

Kind of looks like either The Smoke Monster from Lost, or He Who Must Not Be Named from Harry Potter!  I first thought this might be a snake, but now I'm guessing from the trajectory that it is a bird.  And from the black chest patch - I'm guessing it is a Northern Flicker (I had to look this up - I'm no expert on the birds of Washington State - but this one seemed suitably common and is one I've seen around before).