Death Star

I’m in a moral dilemma.  I recently ordered the Lego Death Star.  Not cheap, a bit impulsive, a bit of a see if it will be worth anything in 10 years’ time type purchase.

I had some trouble ordering it from the Lego website – it kept on hanging up without confirming a purchase.  So my order got duplicated.  I phoned Lego and left an e-mail asking if they could cancel one of my orders – and, to their credit, they got back to me saying they would and that my credit card wouldn’t get charged twice.  So all was good and the set arrived at the end of last week.  But then this week, another set got delivered to me – apparently from my cancelled order.  So now I’ve got 2 Lego Death Stars but I was only charged for one.  My moral dilemma – do I let them know this?  I think I’m going to hold on to it for the time being – if they get in touch with me then I will return.  But if not, then am I doing a bad thing by not saying anything or am I just a lucky recipient of their mistake? 

Weather Apocalypse

We have 2 big windstorms hitting our region in the next few days – the first tonight, and the second on Saturday night.  The forecasts predict a lot of disruption – particularly power cuts, with the wind expected to topple branches and trees which will bring down power lines.  I went to the supermarket last night and it was unusually busy, probably because people were stocking up and preparing for the worst.  I suspect that this may be a bit of an overreaction, I’m sure some areas will be heavily impacted by high winds – particularly those on the coast – but the main urban areas tend to be less affected, at least by the more extreme weather.  We shall see.  Check out the forecast for the next week:

Yep, that is a serious lack of sun.  This is a frustrating drawback of living in the Northwest – it can get very grey and depressing at this time of year.  This looks like a weekend of not getting out much – a chance to free up some space on my DVR (currently about 70% full – I have a lot of programs to catch up on!), and it might finally be time to bring out the exercise bike for some use (it’s still boxed!). 

Bear>Bull

My company’s stock has declined by nearly 40% over the last year – a disconcerting trend.  And since I have such a lot of stock tied up with my company (thanks to our company’s employee stock plan), this is having a devastating (though not catastrophic) effect on my personal wealth.  Not good.  I’m scared to look at my E-Trade account to see what my stock is worth now compared to what it used to be.  My company can turn things around – we are sitting on a truckload of cash, and really only need to make a sensible acquisition or merger to make things right – it’s what all the market analysts want and expect, and until we do so it will make investors nervous and impatient.  In the meantime, much like most people in the office, I will continue to monitor the stock market and hope for the best.  I guess I should just be grateful that I’m in a job where you even get this kind of benefit!  And if the share price continues to drop, that does make us a potential target for a big pharma to buy us out – not necessarily a bad thing.

Westworld

A TV recommendation – the “sci-fi thriller” (per Wikipedia) Westworld.  I think I might have mentioned this in a previous blog as a show I was looking forward to, and 2 episodes in I think I was justified – it is the best new show this fall (and one of the best looking shows I’ve ever seen – HBO have spent a lot of money on this, and it shows).  It has a Lost feel to it that I like (mystery, morality, ambiguity), with an intriguing setup and premise that I’m looking forward to seeing how will play out.  Whether they will be able to sustain the quality for the rest of the season, let alone multiple more seasons, remains to be seen – but so far so good, and for the moment it is a more than adequate substitute whilst we endure the long wait for Game of Thrones to return.  Here’s to hoping for more original, addictive, intelligent dramas like this – especially now that we no longer have The Wire, Deadwood, Mad Men, Lost, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, etc.   

Presidential Debate #2

I didn’t watch Presidential Debate #2.  With all the “locker room talk” by Trump leaked this week, it was inevitable that this debate would just devolve into mud-slinging (and, by all accounts, it was as ugly as I imagined).  I’m not interested in that – I want to hear intelligent, substantive details on how the two candidates will differ in how they address various issues facing America and the world.  I think Hillary can do that, but I haven’t heard anything like that from Trump – he just sticks to the soundbites: “Build a wall”, “Bomb them to hell”, “Lock her up”.  I don’t think he has a clue.  It is just preposterous that this is even a close race – and after some of the things he’s been caught saying in the last week, it’s stunning that he is still running.  Can any woman seriously vote for this creep after some of the things he said?  I get it, a vote against Hillary is a vote against government and the establishment – a sentiment I can understand (though I would also argue that it is the Republican party who are the obstructionists in American politics).  But voting for Trump would be a catastrophic mistake.  I was watching a NASCAR race on TV yesterday, which was peppered with Trump TV ads – the first time I’d seen any pro-Trump ads (Washington state is NEVER going to vote Republican, so there is no point advertising here) and the predominantly redneck, southern NASCAR audience is exactly Trump’s target demographic.  And the ads were about as insulting and appealing to a certain American’s base fears as you might imagine – Hillary might take away your right to bear guns, Hillary thinks you are in the “basket of deplorables”, etc.  Mind you, some of Hillary’s ads are hardly any less offensive – this race has by far the most negative campaigning I’ve ever seen before, and that is really sad.  What is surprising to me is that with the candidates we have, and with the divided politics we have, that a major third party hasn’t risen like a phoenix from the ashes.  If there was a time for this, it would be now – but it hasn’t happened.  Yet.  We can hope.  American politics is broken and it needs fixing.    

San Diego Chargers

More like San Diego Dischargers.  They've started the season 1-4, and the 4 losses were for a combined 14 points and in each of these they were leading at some point in the last quarter.  It seems they find new ways to lose games - the most recent today with a botched snap in the last few minutes.  The Chargers are my team - I used to be a season ticket holder when I lived in San Diego - but last few years have been quite miserable and its been a long time since they were competitive and made the playoffs.  Arguably they've been very unlucky with injuries, but they've recently been a poorly coached and poorly managed team - playing under the shadow of the team potentially moving away from San Diego.  I don't know what the deal is with that - last year was supposed to be their last year in San Diego but it wasn't, and now this year might be their last year in San Diego - but I don't know where they would move to (LA has a team now, which would have been the obvious choice).  They are one of the few teams in the league that don't get full attendance at home games - which is a shame and which is why I worry about their future.  I hope they stay, but I suspect they won't.  And if they don't, then who am I going to support? (it won't be the Seattle Seahawks, since I find the local support and supporters so obnoxious).

Note to self

I’m guilty of this all the time, but I can’t help myself – but I look at job sites even though I’m not looking for a new job, or I look at rental websites when I’m not looking for a new rental (yet).  Invariably, I find something I like and wonder what could be.  Then the realization that I’m stuck in whatever situation I’m currently in dawns on me, and I get sad and frustrated.  For all my negativity, cynicism and pessimism, I do think I’m a dreamer and that I can be optimistic.  But then reality hits and always disappoints.  I need to adjust my expectations.