Camano Island State Park

With my boss on vacation yesterday and it being a hot and sunny day before a cloudy weekend, I decided to make the most of the opportunity and go for a morning hike by the coast.  Took the 1 hour 15 minute drive to Camano Island State Park north of me, somewhere I've been to once before I think.  Did the loop trail - which is a shortish trail mostly above the beach.  It should have much better views - or at least much better viewpoints - than it actually does, but didn't encounter many people which is good - most people go here just to use the boat ramp.  Though it started to get a bit busier by the time I left, no surprise for a sunny Friday day.  Also took the opportunity to take a bit of a stroll along the rocky beach - something I think I'll do more extensively when I come here again.  I find walking by the water good for the mind and body, so I really should do more of it.  Which is why I want to retire by the coast.   

Allen vs Farrow

I just finished watching the documentary series Allen vs Farrow.  Yes it is one-sided, but it is compelling and devastating.  And frankly I'm okay not hearing the other side of the story, because I don't think there is another side of the story worth hearing.  Woody Allen is - and excuse my language, but I think this is entirely justified for the type of crimes we're talking about here - a f*cking monster.  I've never been a big fan of his films - I find them too pretentious and pseudo intellectual - but after this documentary I shall definitely not be watching any of his work ever again.   The entertainment industry that continues to worship him despite his troubling behavior also has a lot to answer for - but then what do you expect from an industry that has allowed people like Harvey Weinstein (who I also finished watching a documentary series about recently - another monster), Kevin Spacey, Roman Polanski , Bill Cosby and numerous others to flourish and get away with heinous behavior for so long.  Shameful.  

Fortune

I had a fortune cookie this week that said "a challenging and fascinating project is in your future".  Well I hope it happens soon, because I need it.  I feel like my life is just a whole bunch of nothing right now.  I am wracked with indifference and laziness.  My social life is practically non-existent.  And I am not being challenged at work, and have been underutilized at work for far too long now.  I fear without any sort of stimulation that my brain cells are just rotting away.  Maybe the "project" mentioned in the fortune cookie is not work related.  Buying a house, being in a relationship, etc could all be considered "projects", however again all seem somewhat unlikely in the immediate future.  Maybe I need to set myself some kind of self-improvement "project" - I certainly need to.  Either way, I think perhaps I'm reading too much into some crappy fortune cookie message...   

Song of the Week #68

Yep, another classic from the 70's.

Lego Trends

After completing my most recent Lego set today, I noticed a bit of a common theme running through a lot of my sets.  See if you can spot it?  Naturally, it culminated today with the construction of the most detailed model yet.

Wrong Direction

So, according to Dr Anthony Fauci, the US is heading in the wrong direction on coronavirus.  Obviously fueled by unvaccinated Americans.  I have lots of opinions about how to deal with this - from making unvaccinated Americans pay for their own medical costs when they inevitably catch the virus, to making vaccinations mandatory for things like flying, attending concerts or sporting events, etc.  Of course this will never happen.  But if you can't bribe people to get vaccinated, then I think you need to go in the other direction and make the consequences of not getting vaccinated more serious.  And punish the media outlets that promote misinformation about the vaccine.  Which will definitely not happen.   

100 Greatest Places in the World

Quite often you come across these 100 best places to live in, 100 best places to retire in, 100 best places to visit etc kind of lists on the internet.  Often they are absolute nonsense and put together by some company or organisation that has ulterior motives (e.g. a real estate company or something).  However, recently TIME magazine released a list of the 100 Greatest Places in the World.  TIME magazine is a reputable source, and indeed one that I used to subscribe to.  So imagine my surprise when they included Seattle in the list of 100 Greatest Places in the World.  I mean Seattle is perfectly fine, and I've lived in Greater Seattle for many years now, but is it really one of the 100 greatest places in the world?  No.  Not even close - I doubt it's even one of the 1000 greatest places in the world.  It's not even the greatest place I've ever lived in in the US (which would be San Diego).  I can think of many cities, many metros, many natural wonders, many landscapes and environments that are a lot "greater" than Seattle.  So perhaps my decision to stop reading TIME was a wise one, if these are the kind of bizarre editorial decisions they are making.  I had a quick look on their website, and this is what they said about Seattle:

In 1962, Seattle’s Space Needle debuted at the World’s Fair as a vision of the future. Some 60 years later, the city is wowing visitors with the groundbreaking Climate Pledge Arena. This $1 billion project will be the world’s first carbon-zero arena and will play host to the Kraken, a brand-new NHL team hitting the ice in the 2021–22 season—ice that will be made of collected rainwater. The city also has a dynamic restaurant scene, including the first fixed location from Dat Creole Soul, a popular food-truck business from chef Hampton Isom that will serve gumbo, jalapeño hush puppies and fried catfish. For something else old that’s new again, reserve a table at Canlis, a 70-year-old restaurant that just named Aisha Ibrahim as its first female executive chef.

       

What a load of guff - and hardly the criteria to select it as one of the greatest places in the world (a new arena and a couple of restaurants).  Unbelievable.