Going Stupid

I was never any good at "intelligent" quiz shows like University Challenge and Only Connect.  But watching a bit of these quiz shows this evening, I absolutely suck.  Not even close to getting any correct answers.  Who or what to blame?  America?  Age?  A general decline in my mental acuity?  Yes, yes and yes.  But then these quiz shows have deliberately obtuse and obscure questions, so it is not really a fair comparison.  Better instead to consider a quiz show that is more logic/common sense and less general knowledge.  And a whole lot less pretentious.  The 1% Club.  Now I can pretty reliably get most of these answers correct, even the 5% or 1% questions.  Which makes me feel a bit better about myself, though I suspect I couldn't pass the Mensa entry test now unlike when I was a teenager.        

Box of Dismay

I noticed that The Box of Delights was available on the BBC iPlayer, so I had to start watching it.  A show that, I think, haunted me as a child.  Well - after watching the first episode - the only thing that haunts me now is the quality of acting and production values.  It has not aged well.  Take the very first shot of a train.  It is very clearly a model train.  And it is startling how obvious, and obviously bad, that is.  I'm not expecting stunning special effects on a show that may be around 40 years old, but this wasn't a good start and it only went downhill from there.  I'm not quite sure why people still feel a lot of affection for this show - it didn't even retain much charm for me.  Will I still try to watch the entire series?  Probably.        

Marylebone

Another London walk.  I wondered round Marylebone yesterday - a place that I only know as (1) a station in Monopoly, and (2) somewhere I'm not entirely confident how to pronounce correctly.  I wasn't even entirely sure where Marylebone was located (basically it is the area immediately north of Oxford Street).  It proved to be a pleasant walk around an area I don't think I've been to before - not particularly photogenic, but still full of history.  The walk took me through various old squares, past some interesting architecture, along some very upmarket areas, and mercifully away from the Christmas shopping crowds on Oxford Street.

President Musk

Oh boy.  To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the early signs are that the next 4 years are going to be a total car crash when it comes to America.  And, as much as I hate it, I will undoubtedly turn into a total rubbernecker.  I'm already predicting that this blog could turn into a daily moan about Trump.  My apologies in advance.     

Painshill

A trip today to Painshill - an 18th century English landscape park in Surrey.  An attractive, if expensive, place to take the dog for a walk.  It would be interesting to come here another time of year - I imagine it would be even prettier in spring or autumn.  There is a certain artificiality to the various reconstructed buildings scattered around the park, but they make for great focal points to either take photos of or take photos from.

Sleep (Lack of)

If you don't include some napping I was doing in front of the telly this afternoon/evening (I was hardly able to get any shuteye on a very full and very noisy flight back), I haven't slept since about 6 am Seattle time.  On Tuesday.  And as I write this it is currently 11.15 pm in the UK.  On Wednesday.  That is -if my math(s) is correct - over 33 hours without sleep.  And I don't feel particularly tired right now, so I don't expect I'm going to get to sleep anytime soon.  I think it's fair to say that my general sleeping patterns haven't been good for quite some time, but I fear this trip could make things even worse.         

Rumo(u)rs

A quick, and early, post from the airport since I didn't have time to write something before I set off this morning.  But there are rumo(u)rs that Lego are releasing a Star Wars Death Star set next year.  Now they've already released plenty of these before, and indeed I already own one.  But this time is different.  We are talking about potentially the biggest (>10,000 bricks) and definitely the most expensive ($1000+) release ever.  And even that price point doesn't scare me off, which is rather worrying.       

A Trail Cam Update

A disappointing lack of action captured on my trail cam over the last month.  I hope this isn't indicative of a general decrease in wildlife in the neighbo(u)rhood.  This wouldn't come as a total surprise given the amount of new construction and urbanization round here, and the gradual destruction of native habitat.  But maybe it is also a consequence of the bad weather we've been having.  Something to keep an eye on.

Casualty

Well I might have survived a couple of windstorms relatively unscathed. but I experienced my first indirect casualty today.  My leaf blower went kaput.  And I was only halfway through using it - so half of my driveway and my back patio remains covered with tree debris.  Frustrating.  I thought about going out to buy a new leaf blower - but there is no hurry, the forecast is for rain so I won't get to use it before I'm back in the UK.  I'll get one when I'm back - though it would have been nice if it had broken a few weeks ago because then I could have got one in the Black Friday sales.  Even more frustrating.       

Another Windstorm

It wasn't another "bomb cyclone", but we had a wind advisory in effect today as we were hit by another windstorm.  And, again, thousands upon thousands of people were affected by power outages.  And, again, somehow I managed to avoid losing power.  Well, it did go out once and I feared the worst, but then it came back on about 15 seconds later.  What a relief.  I thought about getting a generator in the Black Friday sales, but never did in the end.  I still think I need to get one - I'm not going to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on one that will power everything in my house, but just something portable I can use in emergencies.  It was unsettling being outside today and watching the trees around my house swaying in the wind, fearing the worst.  Plus not fun having to deal with yet more tree debris coming down everywhere.  But this was nowhere near as bad as what we experienced a few weeks ago.       

Peeping Tom

When I open my curtains in the morning, sometimes just in my underwear, I'm often greeted by this pervert staring at me.

Perhaps this isn't clear - here's a closer look when I employ the zoom on my iPhone (which isn't very good, which is why I need to get a new iPhone):

Yes, this hummingbird is a Peeping Tom.  And definitely not just overlooking the bird feeders on my back patio, and aggressively chasing off any other hummingbirds who try to feed from them.  And also hovering just feet from me and chirping loudly at me when I refill the feeders.

Streak

The streak continues.  I've now bought a copy of Time's The Year in Review for every year since I returned to the US in 2008.

Not sure why I do this.  Maybe as some kind of historical record.  I think it's difficult to really appreciate history as you're living through it.  And I always wonder how future generations will look back at these times.      

Lottery

The Mega Millions jackpot has climbed up to $670 million.  With my uncertain job security, if ever there was a good time to win the lottery then this would be it.  If only the chances of winning weren't effectively zero.  But that won't stop a sucker like me from wasting my money and dreaming what I'd do with all the winnings.  What a mug I am.    

Disruption

Had a bit of a surreal departmental all-hands meeting last week.  A meeting which they encouraged people to attend in person - which seemed in rather bad taste in light of our site closure.  But it meant that most of the presenters and attendees were present in the meeting room in California.  And then the meeting went decidedly sideways.  First of all a fire alarm went off that necessitated a building evacuation in California.  I have no idea if that was real or just a fire drill, but it meant that the meeting had to be paused.  But eventually it resumed after everyone was allowed to return.  But later on in the meeting, everyone started freaking out.  I had absolutely no idea what was going on, but it seemed genuinely scary.  The cause of this disruption?  I only found this out afterwards, but there had been a big 7.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of North California.  The biggest earthquake in the region for about 5 years, and big enough to cause a brief tsunami warning.  It resulted in significant building shaking across California - which would have been especially felt on the top floor of a large building, where this meeting was being held.  All of this made for a much more interesting meeting than normal.            

Christmas Songs

I'm not feeling particularly festive yet, so I thought I'd seek out some Christmas songs on YouTube to see if that would improve my mood.  A lot of the better Christmas songs are overplayed, so I thought I'd seek out something a bit more underappreciated or that I hadn't heard before.  This one very much fits that mold.  Enjoy!    

iPod Touch

In a sad day, I officially retired my iPod Touch today.  I've been holding onto it for far too long, despite the battery being close to dying - the power drains so quickly nowadays, and the device gets disturbingly hot.  I've owed an iPod Touch for many, many years now - long before the advent of smartphones made it redundant.  It's a legendary product line, and it's always felt important to me.  And I've kept on using it - predominantly for music, and particularly for podcasts - even after Apple discontinued the product line and stopped supporting it several years ago.  But it is time to move on.  I'm going to get a new iPhone soon, and I'm not going to trade in my current iPhone - so I definitely don't need an iPod Touch anymore.  But it feels like an end of an era - a relic from the past, from a pre-smartphone time that seemed so much better (even though it wasn't really that long ago).  It will be tough to let go.       

Wear

As I was doing some laundry today, it once again dawned on me how much I need to update/upgrade my wardrobe.  In particular, it seems like so many of the necklines on my tops quickly show wear and tear.  And it's incredibly frustrating - I don't know what to do about it.  Is it just because I buy cheap clothes?  Or am I doing something wrong in the washing process?  I don't think so - I'm normally quite meticulous about following washing instructions.  Either way, I could really do with buying a whole bunch of new clothes.  And, just as importantly, getting rid of a whole bunch of old clothes.     

Limited Editions

I know physical media is increasingly a thing of the past - but I like limited edition or collectors edition movie releases on Blu-ray or 4k.  I own quite a few, and am always looking to add to my collection - though I am quite fussy about which films I will shell out for.  A couple of examples I've recently ordered (or pre-ordered) - Pulp Fiction 30th Anniversary Collector's Edition, and No Country for Old Men (Criterion Collection).  Back when I subscribed to Empire magazine, I used to be quite on top of releases and release dates - but that isn't the case anymore.  And that can be frustrating, because I miss out.  For example, a limited edition version of The Blair Witch Project was released last month.  I really want this - but it is sold out everywhere by the time I found out about it.  I've signed up in a few places to be notified when it becomes available again, but unlikely for a limited edition release.  However I can hope, especially since this particular release had an audio issue so they are having to replace discs - so hopefully fixed versions of this release will become available in the future.

Canvas Prints

Here are photos of the canvas prints I "freed" from the office.  And they are not exactly small - each one is about 36 x 24 inches.  I really need to do something with them.

Deliveries

This shouldn't be a stressful process, but I'm really starting to get anxiety over deliveries being made to my home.  Or, more specifically, deliveries not being made.  I've already had one recent case of a package for me being delivered to the wrong address.  And then today I got a message telling me that another package was not delivered because "the recipient was unavailable".  Only one problem with that - I was home all day.  So I was totally available.  I didn't get a door tag either - so they never showed up my house.  Because it's FedEx again, I fear they've tried to deliver to the same wrong address again.  If they tried at all.  I've even gone ahead and created a FedEx account so that I can add delivery instructions - but the word count allowed on the delivery instructions is so small that all I could say is "Please check house number".  Ridiculous.      

More Yacht Rock

According to the Yacht or Nyacht? website, this is the peak yacht rock song.  Enjoy!

Post-Thanksgiving Mondays

Mondays are my least favo(u)rite day of the week at any time of year.  But the first day back at work after the four day Thanksgiving break is definitely the worse.  So why were there so many meetings scheduled today?  Including one at 9 am that I missed.  Does nobody have any common sense?  It's generally not a good idea to schedule meetings on Monday - but especially not after a long weekend.  Crazy.       

Yacht Rock

Watched a music documentary about Yacht Rock yesterday.  "What is Yacht Rock?" I hear you asking.  I didn't know before watching the documentary - but it didn't take long to recognize it.  We are talking soft rock from the late 70's/early 80's - the likes of Steely Dan, Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross, Toto, and - perhaps most ubiquitously - Michael McDonald.  The very antithesis of punk music.  What many of us - including me - think of as "lame".  The kind of music you hear in elevators and shopping malls, and on bad radio stations.  Watching the documentary, I think perhaps I gained a better appreciation for the musicianship in yacht rock.  And, I'm not going to lie, I like some of the songs.  I still wouldn't say it's my favo(u)rite genre, but I no longer consider it lame.  Here is a "classic" from the genre: