iPhone Mail

I don't think this is the first time I've said this, but I HATE the Mail app on the iPhone.  Once again, I've encountered issues where mail is not showing up on my phone.  Is it the Mail app or is it Outlook/Hotmail at fault?  Why do I still use a Hotmail account like the technophobe I am?  I don't care, so long as I manage to get it working again.  This involves playing around with various settings, restarting the app, restarting the phone, deleting and re-adding my mail account, etc.  That's a whole lot of time wasted on this nonsense.  And then I get new issues - like no longer getting sound notifications when I get a new e-mail - that I have to resolve.  And I still don't know whether I've fixed it.  Very frustrating.         

Covid

Apparently Covid is still a thing.  I've a friend here who I hadn't heard from for a few months.  So I got in touch, and found out that he has been waylaid by some quite serious Covid symptoms for some time now.  He caught the virus, was recovering, but then it hit him hard again.  That's tough.  And not just on his physical health, but also his mental health.  He's about my age, and arguably in better shape than me - we used to play ping pong a lot at work before he quit his job.  Although I don't know for sure, I'm fairly sure he would have had his Covid vaccinations.  So that is a kind of reminder that the virus is still out there wrecking havoc with people's lives.

Work Solitude Goodbye

My cubicle situation at work was good.  It was quiet with no neighbors to disturb me.  Today was my first time in the office since my car troubles, and my situation has entirely changed.  Now I have a new cube neighbor.  Someone who has - inexplicably - converted from fully remote to office-based.  Chinese, obviously.  And I feel like she has totally invaded my space.  Even though she hasn't really, but it feels like she has because I had a good thing going, and now I don't.  Of all the free cubes in the office, she had to choose the one next to me.  We will see how it goes - if she doesn't come in on most days that I do, and vice versa, then we should be fine.

Car Repairs

Took my car in today to get it fixed.  Based on my internet searches, feared how much it was going to cost.  Maybe a couple of thousand dollars.  This was the final total:

Phew!  My problems are apparently a known issue with my car, and so there was a specific extended warranty that covers the cost of these repairs.  So all today cost me was a day off work, as I was stuck at the service center bored out of my mind for nearly 8 hours.  At least I brought a book to read, and at least it was sunny so I was able to go out for a couple of walks, but still an excruciatingly long amount of time to wait.   

Runaway Zebra

In unusual news, apparently 4 zebras escaped into the Washington countryside after the driver who was transporting them stopped to secure his trailer off I-90 east of Seattle.  3 of the zebras were captured, but one remains loose.  And it has managed to elude capture for 48 hours now.  Nice.  The area where the zebra escaped is close to a lot of hiking trails - so that would make for quite an interesting wildlife encounter and a great photo.  

Neighbor Noise

I finally broke.  I couldn't take being continuously disturbed by the noise of my neighbor using his backhoe (JCB).  I've absolutely no idea what he's doing with it - looks like he's just shoveling dirt from one spot to another.  I've recorded 10 days this month where it has bothered me.  Yes, I'm oversensitive to noise - but I don't think this was unreasonable to complain about.  So I wrote a note.  I'll save a face-to-face confrontation as a second resort.  Spent a long time composing the note - trying to strike that compromise between being polite and being direct.  Finally happy with the wording, I dropped it in his mailbox on Saturday (under the watchful eye of another neighbor who probably thought I was stealing his mail or something).  Accompanied with the note was some information on the laws regarding outdoor burning, another of my pet peeves with this guy.  A few weeks ago I filed a complaint with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency about his likely illegal outdoor burning, but they rather unhelpfully called back and told me I should call 911.  Which I definitely wouldn't do as this does not constitute an emergency.  Anyway, he was both using his JCB and had a fire going when I dropped the note off, and was shocked by the strong smell of smoke.  At least I don't live close enough to experience that, but I would be really surprised if another neighbor hasn't said anything - I've recorded 10+ days this month of outdoor burning.  So, let's see what kind of hornet's nest I've stirred up or whether it doesn't make a jot of difference.  Nothing promising so far, I've heard the JCB both yesterday and this morning, and he had another fire going yesterday.  Perhaps he hasn't read the note yet.  Perhaps it is just my wishful thinking that he hasn't read the note yet.  But I'm happy to have finally said something and to at least have made them aware that there is a problem, even if they don't act on it.  The next few weeks will be interesting, and we'll go from there.      

Trail Cam Update

I don't know why my trail camera stopped working, but it appears to be okay now.  Just from the last week:

Sports Music

You know that stupid darts anthem that you see all those drunken fools dancing and singing "Oi Oi Oi" to?

Well, I thought it was exclusive to darts.  But, shockingly, I've heard it a few times now during the ice hockey playoffs.  Is it also becoming a North American sports theme?  How unexpected.  Mind you, I'm fairly sure I've heard American stadiums still playing Gary Glitter's Rock 'N' Roll (Part 2) so their judgement on good taste is questionable at best.    

Car Woes

Didn't I just blog about things going wrong with my car once it gets to 40,000 miles?  Sure enough, yesterday I turned on my car and my dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree with every single possible warning light illuminated.  

The display told me I had a road departure mitigation system problem, hill start assist problem, vehicle stability assist problem, power steering system problem, emissions system problem, and tire pressure monitor problem.  Obviously not all of these things are really broken, but now I'm extremely nervous to drive my car anywhere in case something does go wrong.  I did risk driving over to the service department of my local dealer, but they were too busy to see me.  The earliest I could get an appointment was Wednesday.  And although my car seemed to drive okay, I will really limit my driving until then.  Based on my Google search of this problem, I fear this could be an expensive fix.  With the car expenses starting to add up, I feel like I'm going all in on keeping my car for at least another 40,000 miles now even though I don't particularly want to.   

Red London Telephone Box

The most recent addition to my Lego collection - the perfect accompaniment to the rest of the London Lego sets I have on display.  I'm not quite sure what to make of this particular model - I like it, but it is very niche and I think I preferred earlier versions which had ivy coming down one side or also included a red post box.  This final version is somewhat conservative.

Shogun Finale

I’m still digesting the Shogun finale from last night.  No big action set pieces, but that didn’t make the finale any less powerful, effective or poignant.  This was never a show about the action – it was about the storytelling, the characters, the language.  And it was consistently brilliant.  I’m going to say it, but it might be the best miniseries I’ve ever seen.  With it’s political machinations, most people have likened it to Game of Thrones.  But I think the show that I most liken it to is Chernobyl – another miniseries where authenticity was priority.  Just because Shogun is fictional, it didn’t make it feel any less real.  I hope they don’t make a Season 2.  Don’t spoil the legacy.

Share Price

Depressingly, my company has lost 20% of it's share price since the start of the year.  And thanks to my enrollment in the employee stock purchase plan and my tendency to hang on to the company shares after they have invested, this 20% decrease has a significant affect on my net worth.  Which is not good.  I don't want to be working in my 60's.  But with the way things are going - the economy, the increased retirement age, the increased cost of living, my dubious investment choices - it seems inevitable that I will not be able to retire early.  And by the time I retire, I don't imagine I'll be in the best of health.  Which is why I really want to take some time away from work sooner rather than later, while I'm in relatively good health.  I really wish my company offered a formal sabbatical like I know at least one of our competitors does (6 weeks sabbatical after every 6 years of employment, which I really approve of as a benefit).  I might still put in a request for a leave of absence when I turn 50 - but that comes with risks.        

Playoffs

 "PLAYOFFS?!  Don't talk about - playoffs?  You kidding me?  Playoffs!?!"

A quote that I suspect most people outside the US have absolutely no clue about.  And although the quote was from (American) football, it applies right now.  Because this weekend both the NBA (basketball) and NHL (ice hockey) playoffs started.  I don't watch much of either sport during the regular season, but I do during the playoffs - the stakes are raised, the quality of play is raised, and the drama is raised (for example, two basketball games today had classic endings).  Sadly, no Seattle representation.  The Kraken didn't make the playoffs, and Seattle still doesn't have a basketball team (there's been lots of talk about the NBA expanding and Seattle is near the top of the list of candidates for getting a team again - it's probably between us and Vegas - but who knows if or when that might happen).

Is my trail cam broken?

I checked my trail camera for the first time in a while, and it hadn't captured many images.  In fact none after early March.  The batteries hadn't run out of power, so I'm not sure what the problem is.  It's a shame, because I know I've had a lot of deer action over the last month - plus who knows what else.  I shall have to check it more often, or else buy a new camera (an expense I don't really need).

 

Reading

Something that I don't do nearly enough of, and that I want to do more of, is read more books.  There are a lot of classics I have never read, and a lot of very good books that I'm missing out on.  In the past I have printed out one of those lists of Best Books of All Time, or Best Novels Everyone Should Read, and started to get through some of them.  But that was a long time ago, and I haven't read anything of substance for a very long time.  Instead I spend way too much in front of my telly, or worse playing some stupid mobile game on my iPhone.  All the blue light I expose myself to can't be good - and is perhaps one of the reasons I don't sleep that well.  So I think I need to spend less time on my phone and more time immersing myself in a good story.

Delivery Fail

I hate Amazon delivery drivers - they're the ones who keep on driving over my grass.  Which is why I get most of my Amazon deliveries made to my office now.  But FedEx delivery drivers, who I expect more from, are testing my patience as well.  And today's delivery takes the biscuit.  I was getting some bookcases delivered.  I was in the office today, so wasn't at home for the delivery.  But that didn't matter, because they left the package right at the bottom of my driveway.  Frankly I was surprised to still see it there many hours later when I got home, because anyone driving by would've seen it and could easily have stopped and taken it.  This is not the first time that a package has been left at the bottom of my driveway, but this one wasn't even hidden from the road.  And this package was heavy, so I had to carry the blasted thing all the way up the driveway to my house without a hand truck.  Which was exhausting and took ages.  Whereas the delivery driver would've had one of those - but didn't bother to take the package up to the house.  Really unimpressed.  I think I will make a complaint because this is unacceptable.  I feel like for any future home deliveries, I'm going to actually have to include delivery instructions to specify that they make the delivery to my house and not just the driveway.  Which should be self-evident.  Frustrating.        

A Solid Bet

I had an enlightening, and depressing, conversation with my landlord yesterday about politics, the economy, the country, etc.  He represents two demographics that are key to the presidential election - baby boomer and blue collar.  He is no fan of Trump, but he hates Biden even more and hates the current state of the country.  I think this is a sentiment shared by a lot of people.  And these are not the views of an obvious Fox News type viewer, but someone quite rational and intelligent.  Based on this - I'm not a betting man, but if I was then I think I would put a considerable amount of money on Trump winning the presidency again.  An absolutely awful prospect, but one that I think we have to be prepared for.       

TV Theme Tunes #87

We are going contemporary this week, with the theme from my current favorite show.  Another absolutely terrific episode last night, with a heart-breaking and shocking ending (this is where I'm glad to have never read the book or watched the 1980 miniseries, so not aware of any spoilers).  Really sad that there is only one episode left.  Highly recommend you try to watch the series if you can, it's so good.

TIE Interceptor

I kind of want to get this Lego set when it comes out, but then I also kind of don't.  I don't need yet another unused set that stays in its box.  Especially with a franchise that I don't care much about.  I think if I owned more of the "Ultimate Collectors Series" sets, then I might be more inclined to go for it.

I Hate Streaming Services

I knew that streaming services had introduced an ad-free tier.  Yet another needless expense.  But what I didn't realize until this weekend is that the "standard" tier doesn't come with the best quality audio and image quality (such as Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos).  You have to pay for the ad-free tier in order to get these.  That is definitely not something they openly announced.  And this never used to be the case.  I wanted to catch up with Season 2 of Reacher on Amazon Prime (a good series, much better than the Tom Cruise films)  - but not only did I have to endure ads, I had to watch it without Dolby Vision (which I think my TV supports) and without Dolby Atmos (which my soundbar definitely supports).  Extremely disappointing.  And I discovered this issue wasn't just specific to Amazon Prime, but the same thing is going on with Max (HBO).  And if I subscribed to Netflix, the same deal.  What a ripoff.      

Liverpool 0-1 Palace

Well, that was a good result.  I was going to say an unexpectedly good result, but after Liverpool's midweek showing I was quietly optimistic.  Liverpool have looked vulnerable, and I think they were there for the taking.  But when watching the game and seeing that they were honoring the Hillsborough tragedy at the start, I feared the worst because that's the kind of motivation Liverpool needed.  But nope, they still choked.  They had their chances, but so did we - and this time we didn't concede in the last 10 minutes.  And the icing on the cake was then seeing Arsenal choke afterwards.  I am confident we should stay up now, and looking forward to what Glasner can do with our team.  And the title race is still very much alive, but ominously in Manchester City's hands now.  I'm no fan of them, but I hate - and have always hated - Arsenal, so as long as they're not champions then I'm good.   

Gentrification

While out for a lunchtime walk at the office recently, came across a house being torn down.  

Made me sad because this single family home will probably be replaced by 4 of 6 soulless apartments or townhouses.  Because that is what has happened throughout this neighborhood.  Gentrification at it's worst.  There's not enough parking, the cost of housing is ridiculously inflated (not that I would ever want to live in this neighborhood), crime has gone up, and the neighborhood has lost all it's character and charm.  I've just discovered that a woman was attacked by 2 dogs recently in a part of the neighborhood that I often walk through.  And, surprise surprise, the dogs were living in a car with a homeless guy.  Because the presence of lots of RVs and homeless people is also a massive problem here.  I've actually noticed a lot of security cars driving round the vicinity of the office recently - I think the building owners, who also own a lot of the other buildings round where I work, must have taken notice of the neighborhood changes.  Or makes you wonder if something else happened...    

Ping Pong

After a long absence, I've started playing ping pong again on a semi-regular basis.  The good - it's great exercise.  The bad - I'm a long, long way from being close to my best.  Which is the main reason I didn't enter the ping pong tournament at work that is currently going on.  I don't think it would be much fun for me to play and lose to people who I shouldn't lose to.  And as a 4-time runner up, I do not want to enter another tournament that I'm not going to win (at my best, and considering the people who no longer work in my office, I think I would be favorite to win).

Car

My car has reached the 40,000 mile mark.  And that is normally the time when costs start to mount up.  Do I get a new car, or do I stick with my current one?  Judging by the amount of money I spent today on some new tires, I think I'm sticking with my current car for the time being.  Which is not really my preferred option - I've already been looking at new cars.  Ideally, I think I'd like to get a Mazda3 with all-wheel drive.  But just not yet.     

TV Theme Tunes #86

I'm currently listening to a comedy podcast featuring this particular show.  Even though I don't think I've seen a single one of it's 430+ episodes.

Couldn't agree more with the first YouTube comment: "I appreciate how the camera stays on each actor just a little too long". 

eBay Addiction

I don't have a problem.

This is, obviously, money well spent.  But in my defense, I have been losing a lot of eBay auctions recently because I'm being a lot more judicious with my bidding. 

Mail Theft?

I'm fairly sure that I've been a victim of mail theft.  Some things have been inexplicably missing from my mail.  For example, I didn't receive all the tax forms I was expecting.  I didn't think much of this, because I know a lot of companies have been switching to electronic delivery of these forms.  But then today I got a past due notice on my water bill.  Including a late penalty fee (only $4, but still).  I never got the original bill.  This is about the only account I can't switch to paperless - so I rely on receiving the bill through the post.  So when I don't get it, I don't think about paying it.  Frustrating.  But I own a locked mailbox, and I don't see it having been tampered with - so I'm confused as to whether I really am a victim of mail theft or not.  Either way, I hope my credit score isn't affected by not making my payment on time.   

Eclipse

There is going to be a solar eclipse in the US tomorrow. and naturally it's quite a big deal here because people treat it like a religious experience.  The path of totality goes from Texas through the NE of the US.  So here in Seattle we are about as far away from a total eclipse as it's possible to be in the contiguous states.  I believe we only get about 20% of the sun covered, which basically won't even be noticeable even if we had clear skies.  Which it doesn't look as though we will.  And nor will most of the US - which means that all these people that have spent so much time and money to travel to see this full eclipse might go away bitterly disappointed.  Maybe it's worth the risk, because the next total eclipse in the US won't be until 2044.  Just for comparison, the next total eclipse of the sun in the UK will not be until 2090.       

WrestleMania

It's WrestleMania this weekend.  Since it is airing on one of the streaming services I subscribe to, I thought I'd check it out.  I watched 2 matches, and they sucked.  So that was the end of that.  I am officially too old to be watching wrestling.  Which is fine by me, I haven't watched it on telly for ages.  

Cherry Blossoms

On Monday, made the most of the nice weather and lack of people in the office to take a lunchtime walk to the University of Washington campus.  Specifically, to check out the cherry blossoms in the Quad - a well known local attraction at this time of year.  It takes a good 50 minutes to walk there from the office, so this was a long lunch.  And even though the blossoms may have been just past their peak, the cherry trees had only just started to lose their blossoms so they were still very photogenic.  Unfortunately, just like the last time I was here, the crowds (students and visitors) were overwhelming - making any possibility of composing those optimal photos almost impossible.  So these are just some quick snapshots. 

Shogun Update

- Watch every episode on either the day it is broadcast or the day after.  Check.

- As soon as I finish the episode, go online to read recaps and insights on the episode.  Check.

- Rewatch the episode to make sure I picked up on every detail.  Check.

- Listen to the official accompanying podcast.  Check.

- Sad that we are quickly running out of episodes before the season (and series?) ends.  Check.

Shogun is meeting all the criteria for being a great TV show.  And, unusually for a TV show, it has been consistently good with not a single less than excellent episode so far.  Definitely in my top 50 TV shows of all time, with the potential to crack the top 20.

TV Theme Tunes #85

This week, more of a film theme than a TV theme.  But I remember watching this cartoon a lot as a kid.  Obviously, the most memorable character was Slimer.

Backhoe

Backhoe - a mechanical excavator that draws toward itself a bucket attached to a hinged boom.  Also what my neighbor across the way drives around his yard way too much.  And which really gets on my nerves - it's noisy, and when he uses it at night (like this evening, and god knows why you'd want to use it when it's dark) the fricking thing has headlights which shine right into my house.  I didn't know what this combined bulldozer/excavator thing that he has is called - hence looking up the above definition.  Just in case I need to file a noise complaint.   Which seems likely because this inconsiderate idiot is using it all the time.

Easter "Holiday"

No time off for old muggins here - as I'm sure you don't need reminding, Easter is not a federal holiday in the States so no bank holiday for yours truly.  Though I think a lot of places are closed for the day (e.g. schools) and a lot of people take the day off - judging by the fact that I went into the office today, and the commute was great and I think I was the only person on my floor who came in.  I had a bit of a craving for hot cross buns this Easter, but they're not really a thing here.  But I did go out hunting for some over the weekend (even though they're more of a Good Friday thing right?).  I think I have found them before at a regular supermarket, but not this time.  I should have got some when I went to the British shop a few weeks ago, but I got distracted by the chocolate Easter eggs!  However, did manage to score some from a local bakery at the expensive supermarket:

This is typical for the US hot cross bun - where the actual cross is made from frosting rather than actually baked onto the bun.  Which isn't right.  Though these ones actually tasted pretty good - I should hope so for how expensive they were (8 dollars, 9 with sales tax).  I should maybe try baking my own next year.       

20 Aggravating Tendencies of Gen X That Other Generations Don't Get

Saw this list of "20 Aggravating Tendencies of Gen X That Other Generations Don't Get"- which went into more detail but here are the headlines - completely agree with almost all of them:

- Preference for Physical Media

- Skepticism Towards "Influencer" Culture

- Reluctance to Mentor

- Over-Reliance on Irony

- The "Middle Child" Syndrome

- Obsession with 80s and 90s Pop Culture

- Skepticism of Technology

- Constant Comparison with Millennials

- Their Love for Cynicism

- Nostalgia Overload

- Reluctance to Embrace Change

- The Grunge Attitude

- Claiming to Be the Last "Free" Kids

- Dislike for Labels

- Their "Real Music" Argument

- Resistance to Social Media

- The "We Did It First" Mentality

- Overemphasis on Independence

- Disdain for Traditional Institutions

- Belief That They're the "Bridge" Generation 

Baked Beans

Note to self - don't go out for an afternoon walk after you've had beans on toast for lunch.  Particularly when it was quite a large can of baked beans that was possibly past it's best before date.  Made for a very uncomfortable, and very gassy, walk.  Though, apparently, "fart walks" are a real thing.   

Individual Development Plan

At work we are now required to complete an individual development plan as part of our goal-setting for the year.  In other words, yet another unnecessary change forced upon us and a complete waste of time.  One of the questions we have to answer is - what key development areas (top 1-2) can you identify that could hinder you from achieving your career goals?  I came up with a few possible answers - I'll let you guess which ones I actually used:

- Lack of ambition

- Cynicism

- Not being Chinese, or being able to speak Chinese

- Unwillingness to go outside my comfort zone

- Lack of enthusiasm

- Wariness over recent developments that will impact my job (e.g. outsourcing, A.I.)

- Working with incompetent or over-earnest colleagues

- A refusal to follow along with the herd mentality (particularly the Chinese herd mentality)

- Reluctance to take on direct reports

- Reaching a career ceiling since I don't have any direct reports

- Not taking development goal-setting seriously

Impulsive Purchase

It's probably (definitely) another unnecessary and frivolous purchase, but I've pre-ordered the "What's In The Box?" special edition release of Se7en.

However, a quick internet search reveals the same edition is MUCH cheaper on Amazon.co.uk compared to where I pre-ordered it on Amazon.com.  That's extremely annoying.  Mind you, the estimated release date on Amazon.co.uk appears to be December 2025, which is a ridiculously long way out.  The US release is due in just over a month's time.  Thought the fact that this is not the final artwork is a bit disconcerting.

TV Theme Tunes #84

A cartoon that I assume I must have watched on kid's telly when I was young, because although I don't remember anything about the actual cartoon the theme tune is strangely familiar.  

Limits

I buy plenty of James Bond-themed crap.  But I think this egg might be a bit too much even for my predilections:

Not even the lower priced locket can tempt me:

Lotteries

The Powerball jackpot has gone up to $865 million - next drawing is on Wednesday.  The Mega Millions jackpot has gone up to $1.1 billion - next drawing is tomorrow.  I've already bought a couple of tickets for tomorrow's drawing.  What ridiculous numbers.  Not just the huge jackpots, but the minuscule odds of actually winning. 

Law Enforcement

There are many, many things wrong with law enforcement in the US.  Off the top of my head, here are 3:

1. Under-funding

2. Gun laws

3. The militarization of the police force.  Which is the main reason for doing this post, so that I can include this photo I recently snapped.  Just a random police "tank" on the road.

 

I expect law and order to be a big topic in the lead up to the election.

Nothing

A strange day of doing nothing today.  I had woken up early in anticipation of hearing construction noise, and was all prepared to call the non-emergency line to make a noise complaint.  But, surprisingly, no noise materialized today.  Perhaps this was due to the wet and miserable weather.  That was my excuse for not going out today anyway.  And then I somehow frittered away the rest of the day.  Didn't even make a start on my tax return - something I have to complete before the mid-April deadline.  And something I hate doing - probably why I'm putting it off until the last possible moment.   

A New Cube

Finally moved desk today - I now have a corner cube on the top floor, one floor up from where I was.  Which is only the 3rd floor (2nd floor in UK terms), so not really that high up.  But the view is slightly better.  The actual move was exhausting - I thought Facilities were supposed to help with the move, but did they heck.  I ended up getting a cart and boxes and doing it myself, including swapping chairs in order to keep my old chair.  But because I've accumulated so much junk over the years, it took quite a few trips to move everything.  I've already discovered a few issues with the new space - one of the lights doesn't work (Facilities had better fix that), and I've got less storage space than I did before.  But all in all, I think it is an improvement from where I was before.  Here are my views now - facing south, and facing west.  Not exactly spectacular, but I get a lot more light now (not sure that is going to be a good thing on really sunny days).  Unfortunately an actual view of the Space Needle is hampered by a nearby building in the way.

Deadlines

Is it the weekend yet?  It's been another hectic and stressful week of work.  Multiple, overlapping deadlines and way too much work.  I'm fed up dealing with people who are either aggressively overenthusiastic and constantly bugging you (I HATE the introduction of instant messaging to the workplace), or people who are clearly under qualified and incompetent at their job (and, naturally, these are the people that get promoted over me).  Why can't I just quiet quit in peace...?  Unfortunately all this stress is affecting my health, as I have once again not been sleeping well recently.  And I haven't even had time to get out as much as I hoped - for example, cherry blossoms are currently at peak bloom and one of the best places to go is the University of Washington campus.  That is a long but doable lunchtime walk from the office, but I just haven't had the opportunity to make my way there this week.  I don't think the next few weeks are going to be any better either, so it might be time to take a strategic "mental health day" off soon.   

TV Theme Tunes #83

As I got older, I think I preferred this to Countdown.

Only Murders in the Building

Another TV recommendation - and almost the opposite to the brilliant Shogun.  Just finished binge-watching the first season of Only Murders in the Building.  And I enjoyed it.  Very watchable - charming, witty, light.  It's the kind of show I'd recommend to my mum - but I just looked it up and sadly it appears to be on Disney+ in the UK, so that won't be happening.     

Guests

For the last few days, been seeing the same 3 deer hanging around outside my house.  Initially they were scared of me, but now they've seen me a few times and I don't think they see me as a threat.  I can get close enough to almost pet them if I wanted.  Not that I would, because I dread to think how parasite-ridden they are.  It doesn't help that they look a bit scruffy, but I think that's because they're shedding their winter coat.

St Paddy's Day

 What did I do to celebrate St Patrick's Day today?

Nothing.  Well I guess that's not entirely true, I did watch most of a replay of Ireland vs Scotland in the rugby.  But over here, today is just an excuse for all these fake Irish-Americans to get plastered.  I think there is a parade in downtown Seattle, but I've never attended it.  I think on some level, I'm still suspicious of the amount of support (and financial backing) that Irish-Americans gave to the IRA during The Troubles. 

The Fifth One

A big recent acquisition - appropriate that it's an Irishman on the eve of St Patrick's Day.  And, as as bonus, won it in an eBay auction at a much lower price than I was prepared to pay - so an excellent investment as well.  Although somewhat soured by the fact that the actor was recently fined for going off trail at Yellowstone.  Tourist behavior like that is one of my pet peeves.

Pi Day

I forgot to mention that yesterday was Pi Day.  Yes, it's a real thing.  But only because stupid Americans don't know how to write dates correctly.  3/14.  Why would you put month before day.  It's nonsensical.

Pickleball

I always say to myself that when I retire, I will take up golf.  However, I'll be absolutely useless and so I'm not sure how much fun it will be.  Therefore, I have a backup plan.  When I retire, I will take up pickleball.  It is a stupid, stupid game - quite possibly the worst racket sport of them all.  Just the distinctly hollow, and loud, sound of the ball hitting the paddle makes me cringe.  However, it does seem to be very popular and, seemingly, the sport of choice for the elderly.  It is the sport that you normally see "mature" people playing in the far too many adverts for prescription medications on TV.  If I go for a walk round my neighborhood, it normally takes me pass some tennis courts that have been converted to pickleball courts.  And if I see anyone playing there, they're normally elderly.  And, from what I can tell, not very good.  I'm not bad at sports like table tennis, tennis, badminton and squash - which gives me confidence that I think I could become pretty good at pickleball.  Certainly a lot more so than golf - which I don't think I'll ever be good at.  I don't have a clue if pickleball is even a thing in the UK, but it is the official sport of the state of Washington.          

TV Theme Tunes #79 to #82

Some more sports themes:

 

Shogun

A big TV recommendation for the miniseries Shogun.  I wasn't sure whether a drama series set in 17th century Japan would work.  But 2 episodes in, and Shogun is awesome.  Epic in scale, high production values, samurais, political maneuverings and intrigue that reminds me of Game of Thrones at it's best - this is a high quality show.  No wonder the reviews have been so good.  Makes me want to find out more about Japanese history - something I know very little about.  This is the kind of show that you cannot be distracted by your phone whilst you're watching, it requires concentration and reading a lot of subtitles.  And I was heartened to find out that the series is also acclaimed in Japan - giving more authenticity to it's fictional story.  Check it out if you can.             

Self-Checkout

For the first time in a while, I went to Walmart over the weekend.  And I was surprised to find all the self-checkouts closed.  I had heard that this was a thing happening at some of the bigger retailers, but this was the first time encountering it.  Shoplifting must be a real problem if they're having to do this and sacrificing the enormous savings in labor cost from self-checkouts.  Do that many people really "accidentally" not scan all their items?  I confess to having "accidentally" scanned something for less than it was actually worth.  But that is just a very small drop in a very big ocean.  Surely in this day and age we have the technology to eliminate shoplifting.  I've never been to an Amazon Go store, but in those you don't have to check out at all.  If the big retailers can't or don't want to incorporate these kind of technologies, then perhaps they deserve to be the victims of shoplifting.  But then we all suffer when they use this as an excuse to drive up prices.  And apparently shoplifting is an endemic nowadays, because the cost of grocery shopping is outrageous.           

Daylight Savings Time

It feels too early in the year, but our clocks went forward this morning.  I have the same old complaints - why are we still doing this, why aren't we doing it at the same time as other countries, etc etc.  All I know is that with an hour less of sleep and with the timings of sunrise and sunset adjusted, I felt really messed up today and all out of sync.  It wasn't just daylight savings time that confused me today, I also had absolutely no idea it was Mother's Day in the UK until it was far too late - so sorry Mum for not speaking to you or getting you anything today!  Again, why Mother's Day has to be a different day in different countries I just don't know.     

AFL

I'm not going to dwell on Palace once again conceding late and dropping points.  A far too common occurrence this season.  Nope, let's celebrate the fact that this weekend one of my favorite sports - Aussie-Rules Football - started it's new season.  I really need to identify a team to start supporting - there's certainly clubs and specific players that I like and dislike, but not one that really stands out.  There's a few teams that have British-born players, even one that has a US player, but nope that doesn't feel like a good enough reason to support somebody.  I need something better.  Like attending an actual game in person, with the winner earning my fealty.     

Football

I thought I'd honor International Women's Day by writing a blog post about football.  Because there is a rather important game on over the weekend.  And no, I'm not talking about Liverpool vs Manchester City.  I'm talking about Palace vs Luton.  If we look at the Premier League table, that third relegation spot is still up for grabs.  At least Luton seem to be putting up a bit of a fight, even if their results don't always show it (the same cannot be said about Burnley or Sheffield United).  Which is why this weekend's game is so important.  If Palace win, I think I'm fairly confident that we will stay up.  However, if Luton win then we are in for a real relegation scrap between Luton, Palace, Forest, Everton, Brentford and Bournemouth for that final relegation spot.  The game is being shown live on telly here, so I might get up early to watch it.       

Fire

I am getting increasingly annoyed by the neighbor across the way.  The one that I complain about regularly.  It's the constant outdoor fires that are really bugging me at the moment.  For the last few days he's had a fire going most of the day and evening.  And he's apparently moved the fire pit or whatever he is using to burn whatever it is he is burning to the edge of his property - so it's right in my eye line when I look out of my kitchen window.  I do not want to see a fire every time I look outside.  I don't know what to do about this.  It's not like I can just go round and say something - I don't know these people, they're not exactly just next door, and I'm just far enough away so that their smoke doesn't bother me.  I had printed out a copy of a brochure which goes into the local laws regarding outdoor fires  - I'm fairly sure that they are breaking the law - and thought about posting it in their mailbox today.  But that is either too subtle or too passive aggressive. So I've been thinking about filing a complaint with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.  I'll start by tracking the days when I see a fire.  Which should be fairly easy - it's basically every single day it's not raining.    

TV Theme Tunes #78

This week, a small acknowledgement to a show that is currently airing it's last season.  An instantly recognizable, and extremely "Jewish" (I'm sure there is a less offensive way to say that, but it's too late and I'm too tired to come up with something better), theme.

Super Tuesday

The results from Super Tuesday - when a number of American states (not Washington - ours is next week) make their nominations for the presidential election - are coming in with utter predictability.  Biden vs Trump - the election between two pensioners that nobody wants.  I think they need to rename today, because there's nothing super about American politics.  It makes me sick to the stomach.  I recently watched a documentary series about the Supreme Court - and it made me so angry seeing how a great institution became so politicized and divisive.  The Republican Party can be mostly blamed for that.  Which should come as no surprise based on their nominee and what they stand for nowadays.  Trump is a cancer to America, and it's shocking that there is a very real possibility he might become president again.  The lead up to the November election is going to be horrific - nasty and vitriolic.  And however the results go, do you think both sides are going to accept the outcome?  Not a chance.  The rest of the year is going to be rough.  The next 4 years could be really rough.         

Religiousness

I think I'm just going to state the facts on this little tidbit, rather than share an opinion.  But apparently Seattle is the least religious metropolitan area in the US.  With around 64% of adults never attending religious services.  That's higher than even places like San Francisco and New York.  As for Washington as whole, it ranked as the fifth least-religious state with 63% of adults never attending religious services.  That's behind the likes of Maine, Vermont, Oregon and New Hampshire.  Make of that what you will.       

Halo

Of all the TV series out there, and all the better TV series out there, for some reason I'm currently binge watching the sci-fi series Halo.  A strange choice, since it is based on a video game that I've never played and don't know anything about.  It's a series that I have absolutely no idea how many people watch, or whether people like.  I'm certainly not aware of any buzz regarding the show.  I just finished Season 1, and I thought it was pretty good.  Maybe not peak sci-fi, but quite watchable.  Only in the last episode of Season 1 did it really look and feel like a video game.  Next up, Season 2.  

Darts

Just a quick observation, one that I'm sure many other people have already made (particularly at the time of the World Darts Championship over the Christmas period), but there is no way in hell that Luke Littler, the new darts prodigy, is 17 years old (16 when he made the final).  He looks way older - like 15+ years older, minimum.  I guess darts is one of those rare "sports" which will cause premature aging if you've played it since you were a toddler.  But it should still be in the Olympics.  I've thought about getting a dartboard for a while now, but have no idea where I'd hang it.  Not that I have ever, or would ever, be any good at darts.  The only form of darts that I had any degree of competency at was the Jocky Wilson game on my ZX Spectrum.  Where, with uncanny realism, you had to aim darts at the dartboard as your hand drunkenly swayed all over the place.  Classic.     

James Bond Jigsaws

I've been relieving my recent stress with work by doing some jigsaws that I've had for a little while.  And not just any old jigsaws, but these are higher quality James Bond jigsaws.  Quite rare (I don't see them for sale any more) and quite well made.  Not difficult to put together, they don't take long with only about 250 pieces, but as you can tell they look good and have some fancy pieces related to the film or the franchise.  These are the kind of jigsaws that I would like to get framed.

SD

I keep on seeing adverts for San Diego on TV.  As annoying as they are, they must be working because they don't just make me want to visit San Diego again but they want me to move back to San Diego.  If only it was more affordable to live there.  Perhaps one day.  I do miss living there. 

TV Theme Tunes #73 to #77

 Some more classic sports themes:

Wind

We've had some really windy weather recently.  As evidenced by all the bits of trees lying on my yard and driveway.  It's a miracle that I haven't had a power outage, because I know nearby neighborhoods weren't so lucky.  But one casualty from the windy weather is my wind chime, pieces of which I found scattered around the ground.  This is the second wind chime I've had in as many years that hasn't lasted, so I guess I need to buy a more durable replacement.  At least I haven't had much snow - just managing to avoid the convergence zone that developed north of me.  But it has been really cold, making for some unwelcome late winter weather.   

Is it Friday yet?

A rough start to the work week, when the very first thing I discovered when logging in today was that a contractor I'm working with had messed up.  However, it doesn't matter how many years I've worked at this company, I learn something new every day.  For example, I knew one location where we kept backups of our network drive.  But I didn't know about another location - which proved to be a godsend, because that second location had the backup we needed to recover the files that this contractor had inadvertently overwritten.  Between Friday and today, it's been a stressful few days of work.  And I don't see it getting better anytime soon.  But this is not untypical for my job - the workload very much comes in peaks and troughs, normally long troughs with occasional extreme peaks.  I happen to be on one of those peaks right now. 

Trail Cam Jan-Feb

Here are the more interesting shots from my trail cam over the last month or so.

Avoiding Scores

Surprisingly, I've managed to avoid finding out what the Scotland vs England score was in the rugby today.  I could have watched it live via streaming, but I missed it - and the replay isn't available until tomorrow morning.  And it's an absolute miracle that I haven't accidentally come across it while on the internet.  Because I was looking up football results, how we are doing in the cricket, and other sports news, scores and headlines throughout the day.  Perhaps I should look the score up now to save me bothering to watch the game if England lost.  No, I will resist and prepare to be disappointed later.   

Friday

Just what you need on a Friday - a long and stressful day of work.  Dealing with incompetence and idiots needlessly creating more work and more drama for others.  I can barely tolerate work at the best of times, but I can't and won't take many more days like this.  Not many people go into the office on a Friday, and by the time I eventually left in the evening it felt like it was just me, security and the cleaners left in the building.  Normally I only stay this late if the traffic is bad - this time I didn't even get a chance to check the traffic because I was so busy trying to put out one fire after another.  So many aspects of the modern office work environment really got on my nerves today - from the lack of telephone (I don't want to take calls at my cube via my computer and wearing a stupid headset), to instant messaging (some people really abuse this and constantly interrupt you), to the fact that not a single person I'm dealing with is based in Seattle nor their first language is English (without face-to-face interaction, all my relationships feel so impersonal and communication is a nightmare).  It's days like this that really make me question my career choices.

A Neighborhood Update

Let's go to the map:

'

1. My house.

2. This house finally got sold this month - shockingly, I believe the selling price was over a million dollars.  Which is why I rent.  Disappointingly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, it got sold to a Chinese family.  I can't get away from them.

3. This satellite image is well out of date.  They are in the process of constructing a new house here.  The construction noise - particularly from a portable generator they use - has been driving me crazy.  To the extent that I actually bought a noise meter because I wanted to see whether the noise of the generator was too much (it was high, but not high enough for me to justify making an official complaint, which is disappointing - and perhaps reflective of my over-sensitivity to noise.  And at least the construction happened over winter when my windows were closed.  Although now I worry about what construction the Chinese family might do). 

4. I don't talk to these neighbors much, but caught up with them as I was picking up my mail today.  They are apparently looking to move away and to rent out their property.  So that will mean newer, and potentially noisier, neighbors.  Great.

5. I don't know what's going on here.  They've constructed a new house, but no one has moved in yet.  And I don't see (or hear) much work going on there any more.  Weird.

6.  Again, this satellite image is well out of date - they've cut down all the trees around the property.  These are the neighbors that I irrationally hate - from noisy kids, to the fact that they've still got or have got a new rooster (despite my previous complaint), from having way too many outdoor fires, to the fact that they've just installed these really bright outdoor lights that they leave on 24/7.  I shouldn't let these people bother me as much as they do, but I can't help myself.  

TV Theme Tunes #68 to #72

Another theme tune recommendation I was given was the Formula 1 theme.  Which is obviously a classic.  But it did send me down a long rabbit hole of other memorable sports themes.  So here are the first 5 of these, and you can expect more.

Streak Snapped

Well, that's annoying.  My Wordle win streak got snapped today, and it wasn't because I didn't play.  No, it was the rare occurrence (2nd time ever?) that I didn't get the correct guess in 6 attempts.  And it was kind of inevitable when I only had 3 guesses at *ATCH, but unfortunately more than 3 possibilities - batch, catch, hatch, latch, match, patch, watch.  Luck wasn't on my side.  I only recently created a profile on Wordle because it kept on resetting my stats - and now my 100% win record has already gone.  Which sucks.

President's Day

Happy President's Day!  And how did I spend the day off work?  By being incredibly lazy and doing practically nothing.  Sometimes you just need those kind of days.  And, sadly, that also included watching the Everton vs Crystal Palace game - which was a terrible game between two terrible teams (although we blew the win by conceding yet another goal in the last 15 minutes).  Although I don't want Palace to get relegated, I don't think I'll feel so bad if they do because they don't deserve to stay up with performances like that.  But let's see what the new manager can do over the rest of the season.  Got some big games coming up against the likes of Burnley and Luton which could ultimately decide our season.

Forest

Some random photos from one of my regular haunts - Bridle Trails State Park.  Though it's started to become so busy at weekends that they have a park ranger helping out with parking - I don't remember ever having seen that before in all my years coming here, so this is now somewhere to avoid at weekends.