Sunday Night TV

I know that in this era of streaming TV that watching scheduled programming is very passe.  But an interesting observation is that at 9 pm on Sunday nights, there are currently 5 programs airing simultaneously that I watch.  There was a 6th, but I quickly dropped that.  The quality of these programs is variable to say the least, but not enough to stop my DVR getting a good work out.  This is the only time of the week that anything likes this happens.  Indeed, there are only a handful of scheduled programs that I bother watching during the week.  But Sundays are the exception, even beyond the 9 pm to 10 pm slot.  In that slot the 5 programs that I currently watch are The White Lotus (quality drama), Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (which will probably remain unwatched on my DVR for a while because the original Wolf Hall is no longer free on streaming and I didn't get to finish watching all those episodes), Dark Winds (quality thriller), Watson (mediocre Americanized/modernized medical drama featuring Sherlock Holmes characters), and Suits LA (even more mediocre spin-off from the already fairly mediocre show Suits).  And the show that I stopped watching after 1 episode was David Blaine Do Not Attempt - after the realization that I really don't like David Blaine.        

More Backyard Wildlife Action

I knew there had been a bit of wildlife action in my backyard because I'd seen the bunny from my sofa, and I also saw the deer walk right across my back patio.  I'm glad my trail cam confirmed it - a couple of good photos here.

Fulham 0-3 Palace

We're going to Wembley!  But it's only a semifinal.  That somehow seems wrong.  In my humble opinion, Wembley should only be for the final and the semis should be played somewhere else.  But I'm not going to let that detract from Palace's achievement.  Just a continuation of a fantastic 2025.  Sadly I didn't catch the game - it was on too early for me, and it was streaming on ESPN+ which I don't have.  However I'm going to do my damnedest to watch the semi-final, and hopefully also the final.  I think we have as good a chance, if not better, than any of the remaining teams - all of them are beatable, and we are the form team.   

Layoffs

A tough week at work with my company laying off more people - including people I know.  I think it's only a matter of time until I get laid off.  I'm busy in the near future, but nothing in my schedule for later in the year.  It's never a good sign when middle management are scheduling last minute meetings to try to keep up the morale of those of us remaining - and woefully failing.  And this was all avoidable - an upper management decision to outsource most of our work, which in the long term won't save money and will only cause major headaches in terms of poor quality of work and not meeting our company's aggressive timelines.  And it's not like our company needed to streamline - we're still very profitable and the share price is really high right now (and since I have loads of company shares, one reason it's not a total catastrophe if I get laid off and don't find a new job immediately).  These are dark times, and I think my current mood reflects that.

Weimar Republic

Is living in the US right now like living in the Weimar Republic right before the rise of the Nazi party?  Or even right after the Nazi party initially won power?  It's a scary thought, but the parallels are there.  Political polarization, economic anxieties, rise of populist movements, authoritarian tendencies.  Obviously there are also arguments against - strong democratic institutions and values, a complex and diverse society, a strong civil society - but these are the very foundations under attack by the current administration.  What I find most disturbing is the apparent apathy/reluctant acceptance by most Americans about what is happening to their own country right now.  Which is why Trump and his administration are getting away with so much.  It's a horror show, and I think the future is bleak.  The question is, do I stay and fight it in whatever small way I can (such as voting for somebody else) or flee the country?  I have been giving more thought to coming back to the UK.  But conversely I've also been giving more thought to becoming a US citizen.  Confusing times.     

Severe Thunderstorm Watch

This is quite rare, but a severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for our region tonight.  What does that mean? How about wind gusts of 60 mph+, hail that is 2 inches or wider, and even the possibility of tornadoes.  Yikes.  If it materializes - and it's not clear at all if it will, certainly nothing serious yet as I write this - then that could be really destructive and cause some serious property damage.  We've had some unseasonably balmy temperatures for the last few days, so I guess this is the consequence.  And just as I finished writing this post, I just heard my first clap of thunder.  Or perhaps it was just a loud car going past.  I'm getting paranoid.  But maybe not, as I just stepped outside and the local bird life is being unnaturally noisy.  They must know something is up.  

Missing Package

Oh no, I'm in that unenviable position of a package being reported as delivered today, but absolutely no sign of it.  I think I need to give it a few more days, but I am anxious.  Perhaps it was prematurely entered as delivered, perhaps it got delivered to the wrong address, perhaps it got stolen.  I'm hoping it's the first scenario and it shows up tomorrow or the day after, but if not then I fear it's lost and I'm going to have to deal with that.  Not a particularly expensive item I'm waiting on, but limited edition so difficult to replace.   

Wolf Hall

They've started airing Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light here.  Only about 4 months behind the UK.  Of course I'm going to watch it, but first of all I have to rewatch the original Wolf Hall.  A show that I haven't seen since it aired 10 years ago.  And although I might know some of the real history, I don't really remember the show.  But after some searching, I have found a streaming app where I can watch the original Wolf Hall for free.  I'm not even sure it's in HD, but at least it's free.  And I've already rewatched the first 2 episodes, and I'm reminded what an outstanding series it is.  It feels so authentic, with high quality acting - no wonder most of the cast returned after all these years.  It scratches two itches for me - big budget costume drama and real history (though I still prefer 20th century history).  Even though it is only 10 years old, it feels like it came from a different period of TV - this was before the explosion of streaming services, and a time when we were still in the era of prestige TV.  I miss that.

Oversharing

Composed a long blog post talking a bit about my depression.  Decided not to post it because it's too personal.  I'll just say that my depression tends to be cyclical and I think I'm in a bit of a trough right now.  I presume the uncertainty over my future is really affecting me, made exponentially worse by the current US administration.  But don't worry about me - I've been living with my depression for years and I'm sure I'll cope and bounce back (and, honestly, I think a prolonged sabbatical from work could really help!).         

Bathroom Disaster

Note, this is not a scatological post - though I could certainly write about some bathroom disasters in that regard.  No, this is something else.  I don't use dental floss, but I do own a water flosser.  Because I'm somewhat lacking surface space in my bathroom, I keep it on top of my mirrored medicine cabinet.  And it's been like that for years.  The other day, I was cleaning my bathroom mirrors.  As I have done hundreds of times before.  But perhaps this one time I was cleaning the mirror a bit too vigorously, because I caused the water flosser to fall off the cabinet.  However, instead of just falling onto the ground - it instead decided to fall into my electric razor cleaning station.  And it sent both the water flosser and cleaning station crashing onto the tiled bathroom floor.  And a lot of things broke.  The water flosser landed on the nozzle and broke it off.  And it proved impossible to release the broken half of the nozzle remaining in the flosser.  So I'm down a water flosser.  And loads of cleaning fluid escaped everywhere from the razor cleaning station, plus some plastic bits and springs came apart from the station.  So I'm down an electric razor cleaning station as well.  I'm also somewhat worried that I broke the actual electric razor itself - it doesn't seem quite right, more springy than it should be.  The water flosser is not a major loss, I hardly used it.  However, the electric razor is.  And when I checked Amazon, a straight replacement is no longer available.  So I spontaneously ordered a more recent model from the same brand - not cheap.  So this rather simple accident has proved to be a rather expensive disaster.            

Madness

March Madness is currently going on - the annual college basketball tournament here.  More like March Crapness.  It is inexplicably popular - games are airing across multiple networks throughout the day and evenings, so the regular TV schedule is decimated.  And I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I couldn't tell you where most of the teams/colleges are located within the US based on their name.  I can only guess that the tournament is at least partially popular because of the sheer amount of sports betting that you can do during it.  And filling in the bracket is not unlike betting on the Grand National in the UK - the only time of year when a bunch of people who don't follow or don't care about a sport try to predict who is going to win.  I don't think I've seen a University of Washington team participate in March Madness for an absolute age, so I guess the "local" team to support would be Gonzaga - who are located in Spokane on the east side of Washington State.  Gonzaga is a classic example of a University that I think most people wouldn't have a clue where it is actually located.    

Sloth

Shame on WSDOT (Washington State Department of Transportation) for removing a giant stuffed sloth that was hanging out of a tree besides the I-5 north of Seattle.  It had been there for about a year, for no discernible reason and nobody had claimed credit for it.  But apparently enough killjoys must have complained about it for them to take it down.  Boo.

Backup

Note to self - next time you change phone, make sure you backup everything on your old phone before setting up your new phone.  I just realized that I've lost my entire chat history on WhatsApp.  Fortunately I'm not a prolific user of this app, but still kind of annoying.  I'm not sure there's anything truly important that I've lost, but still....  stupid.  Didn't even cross my mind to check whether my chat history was being backed up, which it wasn't.  

Are You Kidding?

With England about to play their first games under their new manager, do you know who the current US manager is?  The head coach of the USMNT is none other than Mauricio Pochettino.  Former manager of Tottenham and Chelsea.  And he happened to make the news today because of a statement he made.  He claimed that the US men's national team can be the best in the world within 5 to 10 years.  At first I thought it was a joke.  But nope, he was being deadly serious.  Well Mauricio, I'm sorry to burst your bubble but the US won't be the best team within 5 to 10 years.  They won't even crack the top 10.  To think otherwise you either have to be very naive or very delusional.  Which is what makes his statement so ridiculous.  I don't think this is the first time I've heard something like this.  At least from the Reddit posts I've seen, even the Americans with any knowledge of "soccer" are not stupid enough to believe this.    

Deportation

I've been reading news articles recently about green card holders in the US being detained and deported.  Which is not good.  I'm a green card holder.  And I hate Trump.  So I guess I could be detained and deported for political reasons.  But I think that unlikely.  For a start, I can thank my skin colo(u)r.  Also, hardly anyone reads my blog where I share some of my political opinions.  I don't have any criminal convictions.  I haven't had any previous immigration issues.  And I speak America's official language.  So I don't expect any problems.  But it has made me, once again, consider whether I want to become a US citizen.  Some days I do.  Other days I entertain the possibility of returning to the UK.  I think that's a fair reflection of the uncertainty about my future that has kind of got me feeling very unsettled recently.    

Taxes

I think I'm in a state of shock.  I just filed my 2024 tax return, and for the first time in absolutely ages I'm owed a refund.  And a not inconsiderable amount.  Now I'm absolutely paranoid that there must be some mistake.  I use tax preparation software to prepare my return - so I don't really understand the nuts and bolts of how the numbers are calculated.  Frankly, the US tax system is a mystery and I don't think I'll ever really understand it or make the most of it.  All I can hope is that I entered all the numbers correctly and that I entered all the information I needed to.  Most of it is electronically imported, so the chances of making a mistake are limited.  Admittedly, I have made significantly bigger estimated tax payments over the last year than I ever have before.  But the difference between how much I owed last year and how I am owed this year is startling and unsettling.  Hopefully enough federal employees working at IRS will have been fired, courtesy of the magnificent current administration, that the chances of my tax return being reviewed is low. 

Spam Calls

I seem to be getting a lot more spam calls than normal recently.  At least I assume they are - they are numbers that I don't recognize, and they don't leave a message when I invariably don't answer the call.  Sometimes they have a local area code, sometimes they do not, and sometimes they are identified as "Scam Likely".  Is it just me getting more of these calls?  I doubt it - I suspect everyone is getting them.  But perhaps because I've recently switched my mobile provider, that maybe my new one doesn't block these spam calls as well as my previous provider.  But it's not just calls, I've also been getting a few more spam text messages recently.  For example, messages that are telling me I'm overdue paying a "Good to Go" toll - which is a real road toll in Washington State.  One problem with that - I've not taken these toll roads.  I suspect AI and other technological advancements are making it easier for scammers to scam.  Scum.     

Did I see the lunar eclipse?

There was a lunar eclipse last night, where the moon turned a nice shade of blood red.  But dagnabbit, I totally forgot to go outside and check it out.  I have no idea how visible it would have been or not - there were lots of clouds around.  But it would have been nice to test out the camera on my new iPhone.  I was going to post a photo of the blood moon taken by someone else, but most of the images on the internet look as though they are photoshopped so I won't bother.     

Signature Dish

I don't know how I hadn't thought about this before, but it was brought to my attention recently that Seattle is one of the rare large American cities that doesn't really have a signature dish.   There are certainly foods that it is known for: seafood (particularly fresh salmon), chicken teriyaki (apparently popularized in the US from here), Seattle dog (something I must confess to having never had before - a grilled sausage topped with cream cheese(!) and grilled onions), and pho (a Vietnamese soup and noodles dish).  But none of these really stand out as iconic Seattle dishes.  Perhaps Seattle is better known for it's coffee, which is no surprise given that Starbucks was founded and is headquartered here.  Indeed, people in Seattle apparently consume more coffee than in any other American city.  Even bikini baristas - whose drive-through stands are plentiful around here - originated in Seattle.   

Windows 11

I guess Microsoft have decided to ruin a lot of people's lives this year.  In addition to shutting down Skype, they will stop supporting Windows 10 in October.  I don't know what this means for my work laptop, which still runs on Windows 10.  It normally takes my company a long time to push through any big updates.  I wonder if they might replace my laptop.  Unfortunately, my personal laptop also runs Windows 10.  And despite it regularly prompting me to upgrade to Windows 11, I've been reluctant to do so.  But I guess I can't put that off for much longer.  The last time I upgraded Windows on my own laptop, it proved a nightmare and really slowed down my system to such an extent that it made the laptop almost unusable.  So I can only hope that doesn't happen again.  But of course it probably will and I'll be forced to shell out more money on a new laptop.     

Easter Bunny Tryouts

I think I've seen this advert around Easter of every single year that I've been in the US;

Some quick googling reveals that it is in fact one of the longest running adverts on US TV, having aired for nearly 40 years.  It must have aired even before Cadbury chocolate was produced by Hershey in the US - a decision that has ruined the taste of Cadbury's in the US (and the reason why I have to consume so much of it when I'm back in the UK!).

Driving Skills

I've never considered myself a great driver - for example, with very little confidence in being able to perform a decent parallel park.  And I think driving in the US has definitely made me a worse driver.  Just for starters I think driving an automatic car is nowhere near as skilled as driving a manual car.  And negotiating the wide purpose-built roads in America is nowhere near as hard as negotiating some of the old, narrow, winding roads in the UK.  And I'm sure I've picked up some of the bad driving habits that I criticize American drivers for having.  But now that I don't need to commute to an office, I'm driving a lot less than I was.  And just recently I've noticed a few little errors creeping into my driving.  Nothing serious, and at least I'm aware when they happen as opposed to being dangerously oblivious.  But is this because I'm driving less regularly, or simply because I'm getting older?  It's a little bit disconcerting, and I hope just a blip and nothing to worry about.   

Daylight Saving Time

Our clocks went forward this morning.  And it's put me all out of whack.  I hate this charade of having to change the clocks twice a year - why do we even bother in this day and age.  But, surprise surprise, nothing will change because the country is totally divided on the issue.  Some people want to keep it standard time throughout the year.  Some people (like me) want to keep it summer time throughout the year.  I'd MUCH rather have more light in the evenings than in the mornings.  Naturally Trump has totally flip-flopped on the issue - previously pledging to end the time change, but since stating in typically inane fashion that "it's hard to get excited about it".  So, just as an FYI, I guess that means we have a 7 hour time difference with the UK for the next couple of weeks.  

Trading Cards

A new set of James Bond trading cards were released this week.  Finally.  They were supposed to come out about 2 years ago, but kept on getting delayed.  And these are some very high quality premium cards but, predictably, horribly over-priced.  That hasn't stopped me from purchasing some.  But if I want to own a complete set - which the completist in me very much wants to do - then I will have to spend an awful lot of money.  And some of the autograph cards and very limited edition cards are already going for extraordinarily ridiculous amounts on eBay.  I will do my best to resist, but I've already started to spend way too much time tracking how much some of the cards are going for.

Footy

Great news - the new AFL season started today.  Australian-rules football is probably only second to regular football in terms of the sport that I watch the most.  And in terms of spectacle, I could argue that it is a more enjoyable sport to watch than football.  It is definitely on my bucket list to watch a game live - presumably in Australia.  Maybe something to consider doing should I suddenly happen to have a lot of free time on my hands...

Costco 2

A second visit to Costco this week.  A different warehouse, and it felt like a better one - slightly bigger and less crowded (and less Asians).  But not enough to change my mind on how I feel about this place - I'm still a long way from being sold on remaining a member.  They just don't sell the items I prefer or in quantities that are practical for me.  If I was less fussy then perhaps I could make it work - but I just don't think it is for me.  Despite needing lots of stuff, I just came away with a few items in this visit.  Included was a block of cheese called "Coastal".  The packaging describes it a "rugged, mature English cheddar" and, surprisingly, it is actually a product of the UK - made in Devon to be precise.  Sadly, if I'm going to be honest, I'm not sure I care for it very much.  The packaging states the following: "Aging for up to 15 months gives this West Country Farmhouse cheddar a unique, sweet, distinctive flavor" (note: it doesn't use the English spelling of "flavour").  Essentially, it's just comes across as a quite odd tasting, crumbly cheese.  But perhaps the weirdest thing is the texture, and it's like nothing I've ever experienced before with a cheese.  Again, let's go to the packaging: "You may encounter a characteristic 'crunch' when you bite into Coastal - a consequence of naturally occurring calcium crystals which often develop during the aging process".  Yes, you actually crunch on these crystals when you're having this cheese.  Very strange, and which somehow seems fundamentally wrong.     

Drinks

 Now I feel like getting drunk.

Good Intentions

I'm a little bit annoyed with my landlord at the moment.  Firstly he let me know that he was going to trim back some of the trees alongside my driveway.  Great, I have no objections to that.  But when he said trim, what he really meant was cut down entirely.  Which I was less than thrilled about because it reduces some of my privacy (I can see more of the road from my house, and vice versa) and may also increase the traffic noise I'm exposed to.  And then today, he and one of his sons cleaned my house roof.  I've been through this before, and it's horribly messy - the pressure-washing brings down all kinds of debris everywhere.  And sure enough, the outside of my house is a mess - and doesn't smell great either.  The problem is that they don't really clean up after themselves properly, so I need to do that myself tomorrow.  And something that happened today that hasn't happened before is that a little bit of water leaked inside - via the skylights in my bedrooms, and also via the extraction fan in my kitchen.  This was unexpected - I've had to wash a duvet cover that got dirty, and not happy that some of my belongings on the kitchen counter got wet.  First world problems right.         

Animal Violence

I noticed today that my trail camera had been knocked over and was laying on it's side pointing to the sky.  It can't have been like that for long, I would have noticed it before.  But what was the cause?  The only possibility is an animal.  The camera is sheltered from the wind and the rain, so it simply couldn't be anything else.  Now I was very curious to check out the photos that the camera had taken - it should have taken one at the time it got knocked over, since that would be perceived as movement.  Sadly, the last photo is just a blurry mess and I have no idea which animal it comes from.  I've included this plus the 3 other animals that were captured on the camera over the last few weeks.  Perhaps one of these?  My number one suspect would be the local squirrel who often passes right next to the camera, but they have been missing from my photos for a while - so I sadly suspect they are no longer with us.

Technology Breaking

Yesterday it was a Microsoft outage resulting in my e-mail breaking.  Today it was my TV set top box not working.  Yesterday affected millions of people.  Today I think it was just me.  And what a nightmare it was trying to fix it.  Firstly, it was really difficult to describe the problem - basically as soon as the picture appeared on the TV then everything became unresponsive.  The program information that you get when you first turn on the TV stayed on the screen and I wasn't able to change channels, access menus or anything.  But the video and audio of the TV channel I was stuck on remained working.  Very weird.  Tried to go through online solutions to the problem, none of which worked.  Then had to deal with customer service (based in India), which was painful and didn't work either.  Had to schedule a tech to come out here - the earliest time I could get was tomorrow, so thought I might have to go without TV until then.  But then my TV decided to reboot itself, and everything was miraculously fixed.  No idea what the cause of the issue was - but apparently it was my TV rather than the TV set top box.  Which was frustrating to say the least.  Turning the TV off and on was one of the first thing I did, but apparently that wasn't enough.  I hate new technology.  And if this isn't a sign that I need to cut the cord, then I don't know what is.      

Jigsaw

Because it was a quiet week at work (I fear it's only the calm before the storm), I decided to make a start on a jigsaw.  But I took a different approach than normal to this one.  Normally I start with the edges, but on this one I'll leave the edges until last - because it was more intuitive to start with putting together the various labels.  As you can see from the photo, I've done the easy parts and now I'm just left with the rest.