Are the Seahawks ... Good?

A quick comment on the Seattle Seahawks - who are shockingly and surprisingly on a 4-game winning streak and top of the NFC West standings.  They have a 6-3 record, which is not bad for a team that was predicted to win 5 games in the entire season.  And from the snippets of games that I've caught, they seem to be a pretty decent all-round team who are doing way better than anyone thought.  They are definitely one of the feel-good teams in the league so far, and a lot of the analysts think they might be for real.  It will be interesting to see if they can sustain it.  And that starts next weekend, with Seattle being part of the first ever game in Germany.  And against the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers no less - who will undoubtedly garner more support.  With the time difference, it is an absolutely ridiculous decision to have a West Coast team play there - with the game starting at about 6.30 am our time.  Though pretty good if you want to watch the game in the UK!

The Week Ahead

This week is going to be a bad week.  For starters, I definitely won't win the $1.9 billion lottery jackpot (the largest in the world, ever!) even though I'll undoubtedly buy some tickets (as I have done for the last few drawings).  And then, of course, we have the midterms.  I predict an absolute massacre for the Democrats - they are going to lose control of the House, the Senate and all kinds of state-level and local-level government.  We are going to have all kinds of nutcases, conspiracy-theorists, election-deniers, etc. in positions of power.  I don't consume much political news nowadays - it's too depressing - but I still scan the headlines, so why do I make this prediction?  I am basically judging things by what I see in our state - and that is some very competitive races, in what shouldn't be a competitive state.  If Republicans have a chance of winning here, then they are definitely going to win in the swing states.  I will be glad to see the back of the political ads - which are always on, and which are almost exclusively attack ads or fear-mongering.  It's really awful, and we've seen the consequences of it when people start getting attacked.  And then following the midterms, I predict Trump will be gloating about the results - taking unfounded credit for them - and will declare his candidacy for the presidency.  If the American people are dumb enough to vote him into one term of office, then they are definitely dumb enough to vote him in for another.  Despite everything.  It makes me sick to my stomach.         

Thar She Blows

Boy it was a windy night last night.  Hundreds of thousands of people lost power, including a lot in my vicinity (I was regularly checking the outage map).  But despite numerous occurrences of flickering lights, miraculously mine stayed on.  I was planning to go on a fall hike near Yakima this weekend, but huge amounts of snow fell in the mountains overnight and chains were required on the Snoqualmie Pass this morning - so that was a big no no.  So instead, here are a few photos I've taken recently from my regular hikes:

Musk

Not that I am, or ever was, a prolific Twitter user - I definitely shall not be using it now that Elon Musk owns it.  I hate this guy - a total douchebag.  And his actions since taking over Twitter only confirm that.  It's for the same reason that I shall never own a Tesla car.  I'm clearly no fan of billionaire tech CEO owners (see also my reluctance to use anything to do with Mark Zuckerburg).  

Mother Nature

Mother Nature is a fickle mistress when it comes to the weather.  It was only a few weeks ago that we were still enjoying an Indian summer.  We are currently under a flood watch and a high wind watch, with an atmospheric river pointing right at us.  I left work early today - knowing full well that the evening commute would be a wet mess (which was the right decision - I passed 2 separate accidents already on the opposite freeway lanes) - and by the time I was home at 3 pm, it was already dark, damp and miserable.  And the clocks haven't even gone back yet.  This is a depressing time of year.  And guess what we have in the forecast next week?  Yep, snow.  Oh joy.  We are going to get much colder temperatures than normal, with the very real possibility of some lowland snow (particularly if I'm in the convergence zone).  The mountain passes are definitely going to get hit hard.  I think these weather extremes are the new norm.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I miss San Diego's climate.

TV Theme Tunes #2

Here's a memorable theme tune from a show that I have absolutely zero recollection about.  From the title, presumably it was about a policewoman in some sexist police department (a la Prime Suspect) - but I don't remember any of the actors, any of the storylines or even if I ever watched the show.  But this is about the theme tune, and this is a good one.

Drain Flies

Have you heard of these things called drain flies?  I hadn't until recently, when I looked up "black flies in bathroom".  I'd been seeing quite a lot of them recently, having rarely encountered them before, and didn't know what they were.  They are quite small and harmless, but with very distinctive heart-shaped wings - they almost look like small moths.  Apparently they thrive in stagnant and standing water - and with the plumbing in this house, it doesn't surprise me that I've got them.  I don't exactly have an infestation of them just yet, but if I start to see them more regularly then we might have a problem.  Despite the fact that they are also called sewer flies, they are apparently quite common and don't spread diseases or anything.  Thank god.